


A Titan's Heart

by Fanofeverything101



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: ... I don't think anyways, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Friendship, Gen, Hank Dawn and Donna are stupid... but eventually smarten up, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Gar, Protective Roy, Protective Wally, Slade Wilson is evil, Some violence (obviously) but nothing that graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 43,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27062320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanofeverything101/pseuds/Fanofeverything101
Summary: After Hank, Dawn, Donna, Rachel, Jason, Rose and Kory leave the Tower, Dick struggles with what to do next while taking care of both Gar and the unconscious boy in their infirmary. When Slade, determined to get his vengeance against the original Robin, attacks them, Dick calls for back up and works to take down the assassin once and for all. Meanwhile, the remaining Titans are reminded that just because they have left, doesn't mean that their part of the fight is over.
Comments: 47
Kudos: 160





	1. Down to Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> And I’m back with another AU of the second half of season 2. Again, this story starts right after everyone leaves the Tower, and while this story will still have some things in common with my other two stories, but it won’t be exactly the same. Chapter title is taken from the song Down to Nothing by Siddharth Menon. Hope you guys like it!

The sun was now beginning to dip behind the city of San Francisco, but Dick didn’t move at all from his spot in front of the large window that overlooked the city. No one disturbed him, not that there was anyone left to do that. Only Gar and the boy who had saved Jason, Conner, remained in the Tower with him. Everyone else had left after he finally confessed the truth about how Jericho died all those years ago. Honestly, Dick didn’t blame them and wasn’t all that surprised. Donna, Hank and Dawn had left him before and that was before they knew he lied. Jason and Rose were both hurt by Slade because of what Dick did, so their anger was completely understandable.

Rachel and Kory though, he wasn’t that sure about. Since he met her, Rachel seemed to clung to him, wanted his help. After everything that had happened though, he didn’t think he was the best person for that though, which was why he had planned on leaving her with Hank and Dawn. But when she was kidnapped, he had to rescue her. And he had planned on going after her, Kory and Gar once he had visited Donna, and then after everything with Trigon, he couldn’t leave her. She wanted to stay with him then he would do his best to help her. But he had failed, so it made sense that she would want to go with someone who actually good. With Kory, he wasn’t sure what had been going on with her the last few months, but whatever it was, he couldn’t expect her to stay and help him with his problems.

He wasn’t that surprised that Gar stayed. He somewhat expected him to leave with the others, but Dick had known since he revealed that he was Robin that Gar was a superhero fanboy. One of the ones that put them on pedestals no matter what they did. Dick felt pretty bad about that actually. He knew from experience what it was like when your hero failed you, and yet Gar didn’t seem to care. He seemed surprised by what Dick said and taken aback, but after everyone left, he reminded him that he had apologized and said that the others would come back. Dick somewhat wished that he had the sweet teenager’s faith, but he had seen enough to know that that wouldn’t happen. Since then, Gar had left him alone to think, until now apparently.

“Dick?” A voice suddenly pulled the police detective from his thoughts and he glanced over to see Gar was standing beside him with a worried expression. Seeing that he now had his attention, Gar asked, “You okay?”

“Sorry, stupid question.” Gar quickly added before Dick could even think of a response, which brought a minuscule smile to his face.

“It’s fine. Did you need something?” Dick wondered, completely changing the subject.

Gar shook his head before replying, “No, I just, you’ve been standing here staring out the window for almost three hours now.”

Dick frowned, then looked over at the clock hanging on the wall. It felt like he had only been standing here for a few minutes, but the clock confirmed that Gar was right. “Oh.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Gar questioned looking a mixture of hopeful and worried.

“Um, no, I don’t think so.” Dick told him. When he saw Gar’s face fall though, he quickly added, “Unless you want to check on Conner.”

“Yeah sure.” Gar responded, then turned to head down the hall to the infirmary.

Dick watched him walk away before turning back to the window, about to get lost in his thoughts again. However, he knew he couldn’t do that. Gar’s interruption reminded him that he still had kids to take care, things to do. He couldn’t just shut down, no matter how much he’d like to. But, he knew this wasn’t just something he could brush off that fast. He needed someone to talk to. Not wanting to talk to Gar because he was just a kid, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and without thinking twice, he scrolled down to a contact and clicked it. He then brought it up to his ear and waited for the person to answer.

_“Hello?”_

Dick felt a small smile come upon his face at the sound of Roy Harper’s voice before he said, “Hey, it’s me.”

_“Dick. It’s been way too long since I’ve heard from you.”_ Roy told him. Though he could obviously not see him, Dick could tell from his voice that the archer was also smiling.

“Yeah, I’ve been busy.” Dick replied, moving to sit down on the nearest couch.

_“I gathered.”_ Roy said.

After getting himself a little more comfortable on the cushions, he asked, “How’s Lian?”

_“She’s good. You should come by. She misses her Uncle Dick.”_ Roy informed him, his voice getting lighter at the mention of his daughter.

“I miss her too.” Dick told him. He hadn’t seen Roy and Lian in over a year. Though Roy was semi-retired and Dick had somewhat tried to quit being Robin, he tried to keep in touch with his friend, one of his best friends. Lian was now five. He missed her birthday, though he did send her a gift. He really should make some time to go visit them once this whole thing was over with.

Roy suddenly changed the subject and asked, _“What’s wrong?”_

Dick wasn’t surprised at all that Roy was able to pick up that something bad had happened. When he first started going out as Robin, the first fellow hero sidekick he met was Donna, and they became super close very fast. However, he didn’t get to see her as much due to constantly going back and forth from several countries and Themyscira. The next sidekick he met was Wally West, also known as Kid Flash. Roy Harper, Speedy at the time, followed soon after. The three of them were practically inseparable growing up. Along with Donna, they were Dick’s best friends. Roy was one of the few people Dick felt comfortable letting his guard down when he was around him.

“I really screwed up Roy.” Dick responded, doing his best to keep from getting choked up. However, Roy wasn’t fooled at all.

_“Tell me.”_ Roy practically ordered and despite his fear of how Roy was going to react, Dick’s mental and emotional walls weren’t strong enough to keep himself from telling him everything that happened.

Roy listened silently as Dick revealed everything that happened. About how he got Jericho involved to find Slade, how he actually died and how Dick lied about it. About Slade coming back and kidnapping, and nearly killing, Jason. Then how he finally came clean to the others of how Jericho actually died that night. He even told him how the others reacted, including Hank punching him in the face before they all left, except for Gar and the unconscious boy in their infirmary. It wasn’t until Dick finally fell silent that Roy said, _“I’m going to kill them.”_

“What?” Dick was a bit surprised by Roy’s response. He had mostly expected/feared that Roy would get mad at him and would side with the others before hanging up on him, but the exact opposite had happened.

_“Donna, Dawn and Hank were part of it from the beginning Dick. They are just as responsible as you are and they should know that, especially Donna. They can’t ask you to do something, then have you do it with them going along with it and bail and put all the blame on you when it goes bad.It wasn’t your fault.”_ Roy explained, his tone getting angrier with each word that left his mouth before he added, _“I’m going to call them and give them a piece of my mind.”_

“No Roy, don’t. Don’t make this worse than it already is.” Dick immediately protested. The others were already furious at him. If Roy had called them and yelled at them, they would get mad at him as well and would get even angrier with Dick. It wouldn’t solve anything.

_“It’s not your fault Dick.”_ Roy repeated his earlier statement, his tone far gentler than it had been during the entire conversation.

“I,” Dick started, but stopped when he heard Gar shout, “Dick!”

“I got to go. I’ll talk to you later?” Dick asked Roy, standing up and making his way to the Tower’s infirmary.

_“You better, or I’m coming over there myself.”_ Roy threatened, causing Dick to chuckle.

“Noted. Thanks Roy.”

_“Any time little bird.”_ Roy replied. Dick then hung up the phone and slipped it into his pocket as entered the infirmary room where Gar was.

“What’s going on?” Dick asked, somewhat worried due to Gar’s earlier shout, but as he examined the room, he quickly realized what was going on. Gar was standing a few feet away from the hospital bed where Conner was laying. Or, was actually sitting. He was upright and was looking at them. Dick stopped in his tracks and simply said, “Hi.”

“Hi.” The young man, still a boy actually, said back, staring at him.

“Conner, right?” Dick questioned, wanting to make sure he got his name right. Due to everything that was going on, he hadn’t really been around since they brought Jason and his rescuer back to the Tower but he had heard in passing from the others that his name was apparently Conner.

“Yeah.” Conner confirmed, nodding his head.

“I’m Dick, and this is Gar.” Dick introduced them to the newcomer before asking, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling okay. Kind of hungry actually.” Conner answered, his head turning to look back and forth between Dick and Gar.

“Okay. Gar, you find him some clothes and I’ll go see what food we have.” Dick told the green-haired teenager. Though Conner was covered by the blankets, it was clear that he was naked underneath them and they did not need a naked teenager walking around.

“Sounds good.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Slade sat silently in the small hotel room that he had booked after the new Robin, Jason, got away, cleaning his weapons. Though he had made sure that the boy had no idea where he had been held before moving him to the skyscraper where he was supposed to die, he didn’t want to risk the others figuring out where he had been hiding out. It turned out though he didn’t have to worry about that. With Rose’s help, they had thoroughly driven a wedge between Dick Grayson and the others, leaving him alone at the Tower. Well, there was still the boy with that terrible green-dyed hair and the unknown boy who had saved Jason, but that didn’t matter.

Dick Grayson was now far more vulnerable than he had been before with the others there. Now was the perfect time to take care of him. Actually the perfect time to take care of him was that night in the church five years ago, but Jericho, now in his body, managed to force him to leave the Robin alone. After that night, Slade made sure that his son was never able to control him again. He wanted to go after Dick right after that, to make him pay for what he did to his son, but when he saw that the Titans had split up and Dick had somewhat gone off the radar, Jericho managed to convince him to leave them all alone. So, to please his son, he did.

Now, after five years, Dick Grayson and the others came back and made a new team of so called ‘heroes’. It was time for his vengeance against the man who hurt his son. Jericho tried to talk him out of it, but he didn’t understand. He was still a boy after all. A boy who seemed to worship the Titans and didn’t see the damage they had caused. And Slade was determined to make sure that not only did they all pay for what they did, but that they did never anything like it again. Starting with Dick Grayson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had Roy have Lian in this story because from the little I’ve seen of Roy and Lian in the Young Justice series, I completely love and given Dick’s age and that Roy is older than him, I figured he’d have Lian by now. Plus I love the idea of Dick being an uncle. But I’m not doing the clone storyline. Hope you guys liked this chapter! Next update will be in a week. See you guys then!


	2. Attacked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in case anyone has forgotten, I am still not that great at writing fight scenes. I’m doing my best, and keep thinking that the more I do it the better I’ll get, but I don’t think that’s happening. Also, apparently in the show, the Titans are moving to Gotham. Don’t know how I feel about that, but I do know that I am so excited for season 3! Hope you guys like this chapter though!

Dick quickly and quietly cleaned up the mess that was made in the kitchen when he, Gar and Conner had their late supper. It wasn’t a big mess as they just had scrambled eggs and breakfast sausages, something easy and fast to prepare, but the cleaning still needed to be done. After that had eaten the quick meal, he and Gar took Conner on a tour of the Tower, during which they learned about Conner and Cadmus, and Conner learned about them. Apparently, Conner was a clone, a mix of Superman and Lex Luthor. While Gar seemed to find the whole thing awesome, Dick felt his brain short-circuit for a minute. Clark was not going to be happy when he found out about this.

Once they finished the tour, Gar, having realized that Conner knew next to nothing, about almost everything, decided to introduce him to video games. They had been in the living room doing that ever since. Dick however, found some leftovers to give to Conner’s dog Krypto, making a note to pick up dog food tomorrow, and went to the computer room. Slade was still out there doing who-knows-what and Dick didn’t like that. He wasn’t sure what he should do about the assassin right now, but he’d feel a lot better if he knew what he was up to. Now, he had Cadmus to deal with.

Normally, he could work for hours and hours on end. It was something he had learned from Bruce. There were times he’d work 24 hours straight, though they were rare. However, after everything that happened today, he was exhausted. He felt drained, in every way possible. So he went to check on the kids which was when he saw the mess still left in the kitchen. Now that he finished that, he went to the kids were.

Gar and Conner were sitting on different couches, controllers in hand, completely focused on the TV screen. Krypto laid curled up at Conner’s feet, looking kinda confused and frustrated. It was clear despite the hours he had spent with Gar playing the game, he still didn’t seem to understand how to play. Gar on the other hand seemed to enjoy winning constantly. Rachel hardly ever played and Jason was very good. It wasn’t that often Gar won against the current Robin. Though Dick was glad to see the shapeshifter was having fun, it was getting pretty late.

“Hey guys?” Dick called out as he came closer to where the others were sitting. Gar quickly paused the game before he and Conner both looked over at the man. Seeing he had their attention, Dick said, “I don’t want to sound too much like a stick in the mud, but I think you two should be heading off to bed.”

“Come on Dick, it’s not that late.” Gar whined. Conner didn’t say anything, but watched them intensely, clearly intrigued as to what was going to happen.

“It’s 11 o’clock.” Dick pointed out. Gar looked over at the clock, just like Dick had done a few hours ago before turning back to him.

“Yeah, but,” Gar started, but was suddenly cut off by the sound of an explosion and glass shattering.

Looking over to see what happened, they found that one of the windows was destroyed and standing in the wake of the destruction, was a man wearing blank and orange armour. Deathstroke. And he was pulling out a gun.

“DUCK!” Dick shouted as he ducked himself. Gar and Conner instinctively did the same, only seconds before Deathstroke started shooting.

“Dick!” Gar screamed in terror as bullets flew all over the room.

“Run!” Dick yelled at him and Conner, looking back at Slade before charging at him from the side, out of the gun’s range.

Dick didn’t look to see if the kids listened to him. His entire focus was on keeping Slade away from Gar and Conner. He didn’t care what happened to himself, just as long as Slade stayed away from the others, from his friends. As he struggled to get the gun away from the criminal, he could faintly hear the sound of footsteps running away. Good, the kids listened to him. With that worry now gone, Dick was able to put all of his focus on the man he was fighting.

Despite his age, Slade was an extremely skilled and ruthless fighter. And with all the experiments he had gone under in the military, he was far stronger and faster than a normal human was. As Dick tried to get the gun out of his grip, Slade lifted his leg and kneed his opponent in the stomach. Before Dick could recover from the blow, Slade released one hand from his weapon to grab Dick’s arm and practically threw him to the side. Hitting the wall hard, Dick slid to the floor.

Lying on his side, Dick saw Slade stalk towards him. He was still holding his gun, finger on the trigger. As much as he hoped he could somehow convince the assassin to leave everyone else alone, he knew after what happened with Jason that wouldn’t work. He had to make sure that Gar and Conner would be safe and protected. So, instead of moving to defend himself, he reached for the watch on his wrist and pressed the last button on the left side. As soon as he did, he looked up to see that Slade was now right in front of him. He reached down, grabbed the collar of Dick’s shirt and lifted him up to his feet. He then slammed him up against the wall again, this time holding him there and put his gun under Dick’s chin, forcing his head up. 

“I’m going to make you pay.” Slade hissed, pushing the barrel of his gun hard underneath Dick’s chin.

“I don’t care. Just leave the kids alone.” Dick whispered, his voice barely getting out. The gun underneath his jaw made it difficult to move his mouth. Slade didn’t answer. Instead, it seemed like he froze a little or something. Then, he pushed the gun even harder against Dick’s chin. Dick was sure it would leave a bruise.

Before Slade could actually fire the weapon though, Dick could feel a sudden strong breeze. He also smelled a faint burning-like scent in the air. He recognized those signs. Glancing over to his left, he smirked at the familiar figure that had arrived.

“Get the h*ll away from him.” Slade turned his head to the side and saw a figure dressed in a red suit with a gold lightning bolt on his chest standing a few feet away. The Flash.

With his best friend now there, Dick immediately started trying to push Slade off of him, effectively getting the assassin’s attention back on him. The struggle only lasted a second though before Dick heard a loud bang in his right ear and everything went black.

Wally West saw red, darker than the suit that originally belonged to his uncle, dark than the blood he could know see covering his best friend’s face as he fell to ground. He knew something bad would have to be happening for Dick to press the distress beacon and which was set up to signal him and Batman, but the sight of a man holding a gun under Dick’s chin was something from one of his nightmares. And then the attacker pulled the trigger.

Moving faster than the speed of light, Wally grabbed the armoured man and shoved him to the floor before he started punching. He threw at least ten punches, seven to the stomach and three to the head. Hard enough to knock him out, but not hard enough to kill. As much as he wanted to, he wasn’t going to kill someone, not yet anyways. Once he was sure that he was out, he rushed over to Dick who hadn’t moved at all, which wasn’t surprising since the whole thing only took about three seconds.

The speedster was terrified of what he’d find. That the shot had blown apart his best friend’s skull, but no. There was blood all over the right side of Dick’s face, but he still had a pulse and was still breathing. The amount of blood terrified him, but as long as Dick was still alive, they could take care of the rest.

“Dick?” Wally whispered, tapping his friend’s uninjured cheek in an attempt to rouse him. Dick groaned, but didn’t open his eyes. That was okay, he could work with this. All he had to do was get Dick to the zeta tube hidden inside the penthouse and get him to the Watchtower.

So he grabbed Dick’s arms and hoisted him up to his feet. Once he was upright, Wally put Dick’s arm over his shoulders and wrapped an arm around his waist. Dick groaned again as he was moved around, but Wally only whispered, “It’s alright dude, I got you,” then proceeded to speed them down to the secret door which led to the secret basement where the zeta tube that would take them to the Watchtower was located.

He was surprised to see two boys, most likely in their teens, already down there. The taller one was pretty muscular with black hair while the shorter one was more on the lean side and had green hair. There was also a dog with them. It was only then that he remembered that Dick had told him about the kids that apparently had superpowers and he decided to train. But if he recalled correctly, there was supposed to be a girl with them and Dick didn’t mention a dog.

“Flash?” The green-haired boy said with an excited tone, but then his eyes landed on the somewhat limp man the superhero was holding up. “Dick!”

“He’ll be alright.” Wally assured him as he made his way over to them as they were actually standing in front of the computer he needed to access to turn the transportation tube on. As he started typing, still holding onto the former Robin, he asked, “Is there anyone else here?”

“No.” The shorter teen answered, still looking worriedly at Dick.

“Then come on.” Wally told him, typing out the activation code.

“Where are we going?” The taller boy finally spoke.

“Away from here.” Wally answered. He then gestured to the boys and the dog to come closer to him, which they did. Then, he pressed the last button in the activation code. Immediately a bright light covered them all.

“Whoa.” Gar said as the light around them faded. Looking around the large, yellowish room that they were now standing in, he asked, “Where are we?”

“The Watchtower. Base of the Justice League.” Wally replied. Ahead of them, were three hallways and he started heading over to the hall on the right. That one would take them straight to the infirmary.

“What?” The green-haired boy asked, coming after them. He paused though when Batman himself walked into the room.

“What’s going,” Batman paused at the sight of the Flash holding up his son. Rushing over to them, he asked, “What happened?”

At this point, Dick had somewhat come back around. He still a bit confused, but he was awake enough to tell his adoptive father, “I’m okay.”

Grabbing Dick’s other arm and putting it around his shoulders, Batman told the speedster he had called when he got Dick’s distress beacon, “I’m taking him to the infirmary. You go find Dr. Mid-Nite.”

“On it.” Wally responded before zipping off in search of the doctor/superhero. Once he was gone, Batman realized that two teens and a dog were standing nearby watching.

“You two come with us and explain what happened.” Batman ordered. The boys and the dog immediately came over and started filling him as they made their way towards the infirmary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn’t clear, Wally West is the Flash in this story. Yes, I’m aware that Barry Allen is the original Flash, but from what I’ve been told and read, he retires and Wally takes over. So that’s what happened. Also, if you guys don’t know what a zeta tube is, it’s a form of transportation that the League has set up all over so they could be instantly transported to the Watchtower (their base of operations that’s in space), and to other places on earth. Hope you guys liked this chapter! See you all next time!


	3. Beginning of Doubt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, some news. I got another job for the Christmas season which I’m really excited about, but that means there might be a chance that updates might slow down. I will do my best but no promises. Hope you guys like this chapter!

_Rachel slowly walked off the elevator and entered the penthouse of Titans Tower. All the lights were off and it was colder, colder than she had ever felt in the apartment before. She quickly realized why when she saw the shattered windows. That alone confused and scared her, but then she saw the bullet holes in the walls and furniture._

_“Dick? Gar?” Rachel called out, walking further into the apartment, now terrified for the lives of her friends. Hearing a small gasp, she turned around to see Dick standing a few feet away from her. Before the could say or do anything, Deathstroke appeared behind him and stabbed him from behind and Rachel screamed._

Jumping in her seat and her eyes flew open. It took a minute for Rachel to realize the whole thing was just a dream and that she was actually on a plane. A plane taking her and Donna to Chicago. The minute that they left the Tower, they took a cab straight to the airport and got a flight straight to the city where Donna had been living before Dr. Light and Deathstroke showed up.

“Rachel?” Looking over to the side, Rachel saw Donna staring at her worriedly. Rachel stared back wordlessly, trying to remember how to breathe. As she put her hand on her shoulder, Donna asked, “Rach, you okay?”

“A nightmare. It was bad.” Rachel answered, still panting a little as her heart continued to pound in her chest.

“What was it about?” Donna questioned, moving her hand to rub the teenager’s back.

“Slade. He killed Dick.” Rachel replied, bringing a hand up to rub her eyes. Beside her, Donna completely tensed up and her hand stilled.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” Donna told her with a slightly harsh tone. Pulling her hand away, she added, “Now buckle up, we’re about to land.”

Despite that they landed only five minutes after that, it took almost two hours for them to arrive at Donna’s home. The traffic was horrible even though it was past midnight. Rachel was exhausted. She felt like this entire day had lasted over a week. And yet, she was scared to fall asleep again. Scared that the second she closed her eyes, she’d be seeing Deathstroke stab Dick again.

“Here we are.” Donna said as she entered the apartment, then stood to the side, still holding the door open for Rachel. As she entered the home, she frowned slightly at the mess. There were clothes, magazines and pictures all over the place. The Tower was never this messy.

Donna, having forgotten the state she left her home, quickly kicked off her shoes and rushed to tidy a little as she said, “Sorry, it’s a bit of a mess. Didn’t have time to clean.”

“It’s okay.” Rachel replied automatically, her mind going back to her nightmare. It had now been over an hour since she woke up and she could still see Dick with a sword sticking out of his chest.

Donna continued cleaning up, telling her that the guest room was down the hall, second on the right. Wordlessly, Rachel headed down to the room. The room was small and completely bare except for a bed and one bedside table with a lamp and a tiny dresser. She didn’t mind though. It was nice enough that Donna even agreed to let her come. However, she didn’t immediately start unpacking. Instead, she dropped her bag at the foot of the bed and pulled out her phone.

She had been having doubts about leaving the Tower, leaving Dick and Gar, ever since she and Donna first got into the cab that took them to the airport. And now with the nightmare in the back of her mind, she needed to make sure that everything was okay. She still didn’t know much about her powers, but her dreams led her to Dick. That nightmare had to mean something.

However, still being somewhat mad at Dick and not sure if he’d respond and with Gar probably being mad at her, Rachel pulled up Kory’s name and texted a quick, ‘ _You still at the tower?’_

Rachel wondered how long it would take the alien to respond, if it would be better to just call her when she saw the three little dots appearing on the screen, telling her that Kory was typing a response. Seconds later, a message appeared that read, _‘Nope. Some personal stuff came up that I had to deal with. Why? Something wrong?’_

_‘No, just curious. Ttyl.’_ Rachel typed out, but hesitated on pressing send. Maybe she could ask Kory to call Dick or Gar. She wasn’t sure how things went when Kory left, but considering Dick didn’t contact her during those three months that they were at the Tower while she was with Donna, she wasn’t sure if Dick would answer. Gar though would.

“Rach? I know it’s really late but are you hungry?” Donna questioned as she suddenly walked into the room, her arms full of papers, magazines and photos. Seeing the conflicted expression on the teenager’s face as she stared at her phone, the former superhero wondered, “You okay?”

Without rethinking it, Rachel sent the text then looked up at Donna. “Yeah, I’m fine. And some food sounds good.”

Donna frowned a little, not sure if she believed her, but she didn’t push. Instead she just titled her head, silently telling Rachel to follow her then walked out of the room. Rachel quickly put the phone on the bedside table and followed after Donna.

**2018TITANS2018**

Hank and Dawn were both quiet as Hank drove them down to their ranch. After leaving the Tower, they book a one-way flight back to Wyoming. They picked up their truck that they left at the airport and made their way home. They had hardly said a word the entire time. It was passed midnight where they were now and had been up for hours. Dawn was actually a little surprised that neither of them had managed to get some sleep at all.

The bumpy road probably had something to do with that. The headache that had been plaguing Dawn since they left San Francisco might’ve had something to do with that as well. Dawn however was pretty sure that it was the events at the Tower that was keeping them both awake.

She was so, so mad at Dick. Restarting the Titans after everything that happened. Not telling Rachel, Gar and Jason about why they shut it down. Lying to them all those years ago. And yet, she was starting to wonder if leaving was really the best thing. They might’ve gotten Jason back, but Slade was still out there and planning who knows what. What were the odds that Slade would just disappear because they were gone like he did last time?

“I kinda forgot that the house burned down.” Hank admitted as he pulled up to the ranch and put the truck in park, staring at the now empty spot where their house used to be. They had left the farm so fast after Dr. Light attacked, staring long enough to just arrange for someone to take care of their horses.

“Yeah.” Dawn responded quietly, even though she wasn’t really listening or looking.

“Good thing we got that old trailer to stay in while the house was being fixed up before.” Hank said, looking over at the trailer that was sitting, practically abandoned, near the barn.

When they had first bought the ranch, the house was there but it hadn’t been lived in for years. There were so many things that needed to fixed, wiring and plumbing that needed to be brought up to code, some rooms that needed to be repainted. It wasn’t safe to live in for a good month. After they were finally able to move into the house, they decided to keep the trailer, just in case. They didn’t expect that they would use it for something like this though.

“Yup.” Dawn said, still not looking at anything but down at the truck floor.

Growing worried by his girlfriend’s lack of response, Hank looked over at her and asked, “You okay?”

Looking up at him, Dawn said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Dawn?” Hank prodded, knowing that she wasn’t being honest. After dating her for three years, he knew when something was going on with her.

“Slade’s still out there.” Dawn reminded him, finally looking over at her boyfriend. “As angry as I am at him, was it really a good idea to leave him to handle that on his own?”

_Him_. Dawn knew that Hank was still furious and that saying Dick’s name would only anger him further and from the way he was gripping the wheel, avoiding saying his name didn’t actually help.

“He brought it on himself.” Hank practically growled, now avoiding her gaze.

“We all went after Slade, Hank.” Dawn pointed out. She was still angry at Dick for how he handled everything and didn’t tell them the truth about Jericho’s death, but the last several hours had given her some time to think. They had all gone after Slade, which technically made him all of their responsibility, not just Dick’s.

“But he’s the one who lied, and apparently got Jericho killed. Besides, Dick’s probably the best fighter. He’ll be fine.” Hank responded, then got out of the truck and slammed the door, making it clear that he was done with the conversation.

For another minute or so, Dawn continued sitting in the passenger seat. She wasn’t sure how she felt about all of this anymore. The blonde was exhausted and this whole situation was giving her a massive headache. She would think about it later, when the anger was gone and she got some sleep.


	4. The Bird, the Speedster and the Archer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else miss Titans so much they feel like they are going to BURST or is it just me? Seriously, I NEED the next season!! Until then I guess, I’ll just have to make do with fanfiction. Hope you guys like this chapter!

Dick wasn’t sure how much time had passed since Wally had saved him, Gar, Conner and Krypto from Slade’s surprised attack but he had a feeling it was longer than he thought. After coming to and finding himself being somewhat carried by Wally into the Watchtower, he suddenly found himself being helped by Bruce to lie down on an examination table in the med-bay. He never passed out or anything, but there were definitely times that he seemed to zone out. The next thing he was fully aware of was that he was now sitting upright on the table and Dr. Mid-Nite was standing in front of him, pressing butterfly band-aids onto the right side of his face.

“Minor concussion, but no stitches are needed. And there was no damage to your ear. You’re very lucky.” Dr. Mid-Nite informed him and the others in the room as he finished bandaging the cuts on Dick’s face. A few feet behind him, Bruce, Gar, Conner and Wally all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks Doc.” Bruce said, coming over to stand in front of Dick.

He had been terrified when he saw Wallace dragging his barely conscious son with his face covered in blood in the Watchtower. Now that Dr. Mid-Nite had cleaned him up, he saw that the blood had come from three cuts on the right side of his face. One on his jaw, another on his cheek bone, and the other on his eyebrow. Knowing from Wally that the injuries came from a bullet that Slade had been trying to get through Dick’s head, Bruce was beyond grateful that it wasn’t anything worse.

“No problem.” Dr. Mid-Nite replied as he took off his plastic gloves and started cleaning up the medical supplies he had gotten out.

Looking over at Bruce, Dick asked, “So what now?”

“You are going to get some rest. I’m going to track down Slade and see what I can find out about Cadmus.” Bruce responded. Dick wanted to argue, tell him that Slade was his responsibility, but he could tell from the look in his adoptive father’s eyes that he wasn’t going to budge on this. Not until he actually got some rest at least. And from the expression on Wally’s face, he was in agreement with the Dark Knight.

Glancing over at Conner, who was clearly distracted by everything else in the room, Dick whispered to Bruce, “You should call Superman.”

“I will. But you, rest.” Bruce gently ordered, then turned and started making his way out of the room.

Before he could reach the door however, he heard the boy, Garfield, ask Dick, “What do we do?”

Turning back to face him and Conner, Bruce said, “I’ll show you and Conner to the rec room and the bedrooms where you can stay. Don’t touch anything unless I say you can.”

“Okay.” Conner quickly agreed and moved to follow Bruce. Dick, seeing the excited looks on both his and Gar’s face said, “Gar?”

When Gar turned back to face him, Dick continued, “He’s serious. Try not to touch anything. The stuff up here is really expensive.”

“You got it!” Gar said, giving Dick a thumbs up and followed Bruce and Conner out of the room. Despite the promise, Dick had a feeling that there would be at least one thing broken by morning. As much as he liked Gar, he had a tendency to get over excited and when that happened, he was a bit clumsy.

“I like him.” Wally stated with a wide smile as he plopped himself down on the table beside his best friend. Nodding, Dick said, “Yeah, Gar is pretty likable.”

For the next few minutes, the two were quiet. Dick wasn’t really sure what his best friend was thinking right now. Normally he could easily predict what was on Wally’s mind, but he was too exhausted to even try. The painkiller Dr. Mid-Nite had given him helped stop the pounding in his head but he was fairly sure it was about to wear off and he should get some sleep before that happened. Luckily the ringing in his ear caused by the gun going off so close was disappearing. Hopefully it would be gone soon.

“How are you feeling?” Wally finally asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m fine.” Dick automatically answered, keeping his head lowered. Wally opened his mouth, planning on calling out Dick’s obvious lie, when someone else shouted, “Dick!”

The two looked over to the doorway to find none other than Roy Harper coming into the room. Dick couldn’t hide his surprise at that. Wasn’t it still the middle of the night, or did a lot more time pass than he realized? If not, then what did Roy do with Lian? Did he really have a babysitter that would’ve been okay with being called in the middle of the night? How did he even know that he was here?

“Roy? What are you doing here?” Dick asked as the archer quickly came to stand in front of him and pulled him into a tight hug. Dick had to bite back a groan when Roy’s hold on him put pressure on his sore back. He didn’t want to make him more worried than he clearly was.

“I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer, so I called Wally and he told me what happened.” Roy answered, pulling away to get a better look at the younger hero. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Just a scrape and a minor concussion. Nothing serious.” Dick assured him. Roy’s eyes squinted as he looked him over, clearly not fully believing him. He then looked over at Wally who gave him a nod, letting him know that Dick was telling the truth. Dick shook his head slightly at his two friends’ antics then moved to stand up off the table.

“What are you doing?” Roy immediately questioned, holding his hands out as though he was getting ready to push the former Robin back down.

“Standing.” Dick replied with a grin, clearly annoying Roy.

“Dr. Mid-Nite said you needed to rest.” Wally reminded him, also standing up and looking like he was about to help Roy force him to sit down again.

“Yes, but he didn’t say I had to do that here.” Dick pointed out.

Roy and Wally exchanged looks, then both sighed and Wally, putting his arm around Dick’s shoulders, said, “Come on.”

Dick let Wally and Roy lead him out of the med-bay and down the hall. He had figured that they were probably taking him to the assigned room that he stayed in on the rare occasions he had to spend the night but instead they went to the rec room. That didn’t surprise Dick. He was pretty sure that they wanted to talk and if they did that in his room, he’d probably fall asleep.

“Where did Gar and Conner go?” Dick wondered when he saw that the room was empty. Bruce had said that he was going to show them their guest rooms and the rec room, and Dick thought that they would’ve been so excited at the sight of the TV system, the pool table, the mini fridge and more that they would’ve stayed to explore it all.

“Maybe to their rooms? It’s past midnight.” Wally suggested while Roy just frowned. He had completely forgotten that Wally had also gotten the two teenagers and a dog apparently, out of the Tower with Dick.

“Oh.” Dick mumbled, flopping down on the nearest couch. Roy and Wally immediately sat down beside him, but he didn’t look at them. He just stared at the ground.

“So, what happened with the others?” Wally asked. He had been wondering what had happened when he realized that the boy with Gar wasn’t Jason and where the girl, Rachel was. He hadn’t talked to Dick in a while, but the last time he did, he had said that he had opened up Titans Tower with Jason, who was the new Robin, and the two new teenagers. When he had talked to Roy only an hour ago, he had figured out that Dick had talked to him very recently and knew more.

Dick glanced over at him, then at Roy, silently asking him to tell the speedster what all happened. It was hard enough having to tell Roy already today. Was it still even the same day? He was so tired he was surprised that he wasn’t still hallucinating Bruce like had been the majority of the day. And, he had no idea how Wally was going to react to what Dick all did. At least he knew that Roy was on his side and would hopefully keep Wally from doing anything stupid. Roy nodded and proceeded to tell Wally everything that Dick had told him only hours earlier.

“I’m going to kill them!” Wally shouted when Roy finished, bolting off the couch in anger, noticeably vibrating on the spot.

“Wally, don’t.” Dick said, leaning against Roy a little.

“Come on Dick, you can’t serious you tell me you think they were right?” Wally asked. Dick didn’t even have time to think of an answer before Wally added, “Of course you do. Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to.”

Dick didn’t bother trying to come up with a response to that. It was pretty obvious to him. Wally then sat back down beside and as he put a hand on his shoulder, he said, “Dick, this isn’t your fault. Not yours alone anyways. The others agreed to it. And if anyone is truly to blame, it’s Slade. He didn’t have to kill Garth, didn’t have to attack Donna, didn’t have to become an assassin in the first place.”

“One question though.” Roy spoke up when Dick nodded in acknowledgement of what Wally said. When both the acrobat and speedster looked at him, Roy asked, “Why weren’t you honest with Hank, Dawn and Donna in the first place?”

Dick thought silently for a minute. He didn’t really want to answer that, but this was Roy and Wally. They were the few people he ever felt comfortable with being vulnerable around. As comfortable as he could feel with being vulnerable at all. And they have shown that they weren’t angry at him or anything, and he was still too tired to put his wall backs up, so he whispered, “Because, I, I didn’t want them to leave.”

“Dick,” Wally said, moving to hug him, but Dick quickly clammed up as tears started filling his eyes.

“No. Don’t. I’m fine.” He insisted, beginning to feel extremely embarrassed. The last thing he wanted was to break down in tears even though it seemed like he wasn’t going to be able to stop it. He wanted to run to his room and hide, but Wally and Roy quickly wrapped their arms around him. At that, he couldn’t keep from crying and just let his friends hold him.

**2018TITANS2018**

Gar didn’t mean to eavesdrop. He really didn’t, but he needed to go to the bathroom. As amazing as the guest rooms were, they didn’t have bathrooms attached or anything. Thinking that a bathroom had to be nearby, he went out searching and heard voices. Quickly recognizing one of them as Dick’s, he headed down the hall towards them and found himself entering the rec room.

When he reached the room, he saw Dick with Wally and some other guy that he didn’t recognize. And since he wasn’t wearing a superhero suit, he wasn’t able to which hero he was, if he even was a hero. Seconds after he arrived, he realized that they were having a private conversation and turned to leave, but then he heard what Dick was saying. Then he heard him start to cry.

Gar hadn’t known for very long. Only a couple of months, but during that time, he had seen him as a hero, a protector, a leader, a teacher and at times, a parental figure. He had never seen him like this. The most he had seen the older man off his game was the few times he got sheepish or a little embarrassed when they were living at the Tower with Rachel and Jason. He had never seen him lower his guard so much, never seen him cry. It broke his heart and filled him with rage at the others at the same time.

If Dick knew that Gar was here, he never would have opened up like he was to Wally and whoever the other guy was. While that also upset the teenager a little, he wanted the former Robin to feel like he could depend on him and trust him like he did him, he did understand it. He was younger than Dick and they weren’t as close as he obviously was to the two who were now currently hugging him. Older people had a hard time opening up to younger people about their issues, especially if they were responsible for them. It sucked but that’s how it is.

Now though, Gar was aware of how badly Dick was hurting. And though he didn’t hear the whole conversation, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was upsetting Dick. However, there wasn’t anything he could do about it right now, so he quietly snuck away and resumed his search for the bathroom. Tomorrow though, and from now on, he’d do whatever he could to help Dick out and protect him, just like Dick has done for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you guys were wondering, I’m picturing Colton Haynes as Roy Harper and Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West because I love them. However, I am trying to use more of the comic-verse storylines not the CW. Also, just a random thought, but since season 3 is apparently going to take place in Gotham, is anyone else kind of wondering if we are going to get introduced to the Court of Owls? Cause I lowkey want to see that. See you all next time!


	5. Heading Back

_Rachel was back in the Tower. The lights were still off, but it was colder than it was before. Like last time, the entire was a mess. It was like someone had shot the place up and took a sledgehammer to the furniture. However, there was no one in sight._

_“Hello?” She called out, even though she was terrified of what she would hear, and find._

_“Rachel.” The sound of Dick’s choked up and broken voice led her into the living room. When she got there, she froze._

_On the ground near the fireplace, laid Dick. He was practically drenched in blood. She gasped and moved forward to help him, but then Deathstroke appeared to stand by Dick’s feet. Instinctively, she stopped, wondering what she should do. She knew the assassin had powers, but could she summon her own powers and take him down before he did something. Before she could decide, Deathstroke wordlessly pulled out a small handgun, pointed it at Dick’s head and fired._

“NO!” Rachel screamed as she shot up in the bed in Donna’s guest bedroom. Her skin was soaked with sweat, making her hair stick to her face and her pajama shirt cling to her body.

“Rachel!” Donna shouted as she ran into the room. Seeing that there was no danger like her instincts told her, she rushed to the bed and sat down beside the clearly freaked out teenager. Gently placing a hand on her shoulder, she asked, “Are you okay?”

“I was, I was at the Tower. And it was a wreck. And then, I heard Dick, call out to me. I turned around and he was on the ground, bleeding. He couldn’t breathe. Then, Deathstroke was there, and he fired a gun. He shot Dick right in the head.” Rachel explained through her pants as tears ran down her cheeks. Though she knew she was breathing, her lungs didn’t seem to realize that.

“It was just a nightmare Rach. Everyone’s fine.” Donna comforted, moving her hand to brush her dark, bluish hair away from the girl’s face. A tiny bit of anger flared up at the mention of Dick, but it quickly disappeared when Rachel told her the details of the dream. As upset as she was, she didn’t want one of her best friends’ dead, especially like that. The nightmare sounded horrific.

“How do you know? How do you know that Dick’s okay?” Rachel wondered, sounding completely desperate for any kind of assurance she could get.

“Well,” Donna paused, realizing that since she hadn’t been in contact with Dick since they left, she couldn’t say that unless she wanted to lie. Not wanting to lie but wanting to keep the girl in her care calm, she said, “I’m sure everything’s okay.”

“But Slade’s still out there.” Rachel reminded her. When Donna stayed silent, not having really thought about that, Rachel grabbed her phone and looked for Gar’s contact info.

“What are you doing?” Donna asked, a little confused at the sudden act.

Clicking on Gar’s name and holding the phone up to her ear, she said, “I’m calling Gar.”

Donna waited quietly as Rachel waited for the shapeshifter to answer. As much as she didn’t want anything to do with Dick right now, she would like to know for sure that everything was okay. She didn’t know much about Rachel’s powers, but she knew many heroes who seemed to be able to predict terrible things happening and learned to listen when they spoke of it.

When about a minute passed, Rachel paled and revealed, “There’s no answer.”

“Maybe he’s busy.” Donna suggested, but Rachel was already dialing another number.

“Dick’s not answering either.” Rachel told her when she heard the beginning of Dick’s answering machine, hanging up the phone.

“Maybe he’s busy too. With Gar.” Donna responded, frustration bleeding into her voice to hide the tiny bit of worry that was starting to grow in her stomach.

“He would’ve answered.” Rachel replied, gripping her phone tightly in her hand.

“Rachel, maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to you.” Donna said. Seeing the sudden hurt expression on her face, the photographer quickly clarified, “To us.”

“Dick’s not like that. Even if he’s mad or upset, he’d still answer in case something happened.” Rachel protested. Donna didn’t have an argument for that. She knew that no matter how badly they fought, how badly they hurt each other, if you called Dick, he’d still answer and come to help. That’s just how he is.

“I’ll try him.” Donna finally said, then stood up and went back to her own room to get her phone.

Quickly dialing his number, Donna walked back over to Rachel so she could tell her whether or not Dick answered. Even as she did it, she wondered what the odds were that Dick would pick up the phone for her and not Rachel. That didn’t seem likely. As Dick’s answering machine kicked in, Donna said to the young girl, “No answer.”

“Donna, something’s wrong.” Rachel insisted with a pleading tone, letting the Wonder Girl know exactly what she wanted.

“Guess it’s a good thing we didn’t unpack our bags.” Donna responded, somewhat annoyed with the situation. They had only been home for about six to eight hours and she was still exhausted and not in the mood to hop in a plane based on a nightmare, but the fact that Dick didn’t answer worried her.

“Thank you.” Rachel whispered, relief clear in her voice. Donna simply nodded and went back to her room to change.

**2018TITANS2018**

Like the flight to Chicago, the flight to San Francisco was pretty much silent. Donna hardly said a single word and Rachel couldn’t tell if it was because she was too worried about Dick and Gar like she was, or if she was mad that Rachel was making her come back to the Tower when she was still furious and upset with Dick. Not wanting to start a fight, Rachel didn’t bring it up. Besides, not only did Donna not have to come with her, the teenager could’ve traveled by herself, but honestly, Rachel was too wound up with worry about what they were going to find.

Though she had been awake now for hours but every single time she closed her eyes, even just to blink, she saw Dick lying on the floor, covered in blood. She still didn’t know how her powers worked and struggled to control them, but she knew the importance of her dreams. It was her dreams that led her to Dick in the first place. These nightmares had to be telling her something. Warning her about something terrible happening to Dick. She wasn’t just going to ignore it.

“For the record, I still think you’re freaking out over nothing.” Donna informed her as they got out of the taxi when it reached their destination. As the yellow car drove away, Rachel stared at the building where the Titans’ apartment was and mumbled, “That doesn’t look like nothing.”

Donna looked up and felt the blood rush from her face. At the top of the building, was a noticeable hole in the windows. Where they lived has the Titans. Suddenly, Rachel darted across the street, not caring at all about the traffic.

“Rachel!” Donna yelled as she followed after her. By the time she caught up to her, she was already standing in the elevator. With the two of them filled with worry, they didn’t say anything the ride up. When the doors opened, they immediately saw the furniture was wrecked, pictures were on the floor and glass around the broken window.

“Oh my G*d.” The words were out of Rachel’s mouth before she even realized it.

“Dick! Gar!” Donna shouted as she ran out of the elevator and started searching the place. Rachel slowly followed, terrified that she would find Dick’s dead body near the fireplace, just like in her dream.

Thankfully, there was no dead body, but from what she could hear, there wasn’t anyone else in the apartment. Donna was still calling out for their friends and there was no answer. It was then that Rachel noticed the bullet holes in the walls. In a scared daze, Rachel walked through the place until she got to the living room. There, she saw blood splatted on the wall near a bullet hole, as though someone had been shot.

“There’s no one here.” Donna said, coming back into the room, now appearing extremely worried though Rachel didn’t notice. Her focus was on the bloodied wall.

“Whose blood is that?” Rachel asked, pointing at the wall. Donna, only now noticing it, paled even more than she already was.

“I don’t know.” Donna answered.

“What do we do?” Rachel questioned. It as clear that there was no one in the apartment, but neither of them knew what happened or where their friends now were or how badly they were injured.

“I’m calling Hank and Dawn. We need to find out what happened.” Donna decided, pulling her phone out and dialing Dawn’s number. The former ballerina was far more calm and level-headed than her boyfriend, who was more likely to start yelling or hang up at the mention of Dick before she was able to explain everything.

“I’m going to call Jason, and Kory. Maybe they can help.” Rachel said, taking her own phone out as well. As she did that, she walked away so that they wouldn’t interrupt each other’s conversations.

“Dawn? I’m back at the Tower with Rachel. It’s a long story, but it’s been attacked. The place is a mess, and there’s no sign of Dick or Gar, or that other kid.” Donna immediately said as soon as she heard Dawn answer.

_“What?”_ Dawn exclaimed, struggling to process everything that she had just been told.

“Dawn, there’s blood, and a bullet hole.” Donna then added. She wasn’t sure if she had been able to hide just how freaked out and terrified she was from Rachel, but she didn’t bother trying to hide it from Dawn.

_“We’ll be right there.”_ Dawn told her.

“Okay, see you soon.” Donna said, then hung up the phone. Needing to do something, and desperate to know what had occurred in the hours they were gone, she decided to head to the computer room. With any luck, the security cameras had caught everything.

Walking past Rachel, the brunette said, “Hank and Dawn are coming.”

“Good. Jason’s coming too. And I’m going to call Kory.” Rachel updated her as she dialed the redheaded alien’s number.

“What about Rose?” Donna questioned, remembering that Rose had left with Jason.

“I don’t know.” The young girl said, putting her cell phone back against her ear.

“Okay. I’m going to take a look at the cameras. Hopefully they caught something.” Donna informed her. Rachel gave her a nod of acknowledgement, then turned her attention back to her task when she heard Kory’s voice say, _“Hello?”_

“Hey Kory. Something bad happened and I need you to come back to the Tower.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Rose wandered around the house aimlessly, not really paying any attention to anything. After she and Jason left the Tower, they took a taxi to a bus station. Rose wasn’t sure where they ended up. She was too lost in her thoughts to notice or care. Apparently sensing that, Jason didn’t say anything to her. He just led her to the bus, and when it stopped, he led her off and to another taxi which took them to this house.

She didn’t know who the house belonged to. Since Jason knew the security code, she assumed that it was one of Batman’s houses or something. He did have to pick the lock though so she wasn’t sure. But again, she didn’t care. The only thing she really wanted was some peace and quiet to think. To start out all the rambling thoughts in her head. To make sense of what Dick told her, told them, and what her Dad. Despite the hours that had passed, it was still all so confusing.

Walking into the living room which was right by the front door though, she saw Jason packing up one of his bags even though they had arrived just yesterday. Taking a few steps towards him, she asked, “What’s going on?”

“Rachel called. Someone attacked the Tower. Dick, Gar and Conner are gone. I’m going to go and see if I can help.” Jason answered. He wondered if he should ask her if she wanted to come with him, but considering that she had just learned how her brother died and the part Dick and the others played in it, he couldn’t really see her wanting to help. Turning to look at her though, he saw that she seemed scared or something.

“Rose?”

Taking a deep breath, Rose said, “I need to tell you something.”

Jason had no idea what was going on, but he had a strong feeling that whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Still, he waited patiently for Rose to continue, which she soon did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like in my other AU’s, Kory’s storyline with Faddei stays the same. Hope you all liked this chapter! See you all next time!


	6. A Confession and Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know I’m a day late but Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! I hope you all had a great day! So, last week was a bit crazy so I didn’t post anything, sorry, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Jason and Rose were silent in the cab that was currently taking them back to the Tower. They were both deep in thought, though not about the same thing. Rose was worried about what her Dad had done to Dick and Gar, and Jason was still struggling to process everything Rose had revealed hours earlier.

When Rose had explained how she met Slade, had trained her, had used her against the Titans, he felt nothing but fury and betrayal. He had thought that she was the only person in the Tower who hadn’t hurt him and now he knew that he was wrong. At first, he didn’t want anything to do with her, but before he could tell her that, she pleaded for forgiveness. Practically begged for a chance to make things right. Hesitantly, he agreed. Others might think it was a stupid decision, and maybe it was, but he knew fake apologizes, fake sincerity when he heard and saw it.

Thinking it over now, the new Robin realized that he wasn’t that mad anymore. There was still the hurt and sense of betrayal remaining, but that was to be expected. He didn’t blame Rose though. Along with being able to tell when people were faking sincerity, he also knew what kids who were scared of their parents looked like. Knew how they obeyed their parents’ wishes out of fear and a messed-up desire to make them proud. Knew how parents manipulate them. No, he didn’t blame Rose for what she did.

Before they knew it, the taxi pulled to a stop in front of Titans Tower. Jason grabbed his bag and moved to get out, then stopped when his eyes fell on Rose.

“We’re here.” Jason quietly announced, seeing that Rose seemed lost in thought. When she didn’t say anything or make any kind of movement, he asked, “You okay?”

“They’re going to be furious.” Rose stated, staring out the window at the building where the penthouse was.

“Probably, but they’ll also understand. I think.” Jason said, then winced when he realized how unconvincing he sounded.

Rose however, either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She simply grabbed her bag, said, “Let’s go,” and opened the door to get out. Jason followed right behind her.

Together, they made their way across the busy street to their destination. Rose was tense, clearly still nervous about what was going to happen next, but she walked with her head held high and shoulders back. She was as ready as she ever would be. Still wanting to give her some assurance, Jason reached over and grabbed her hand, which she took. She dropped it though when they reached the entrance to the elevator where Hank and Dawn were already waiting.

“Hey Dawn. Hank.” Jason greeted as they approached the elevator.

“You two got the call as well I assume?” Hank questioned as the doors to the elevator opened.

“Yeah.” Jason confirmed, following the older man and his girlfriend into the lift. Rose went in right behind him. As soon as all four of them were in the elevator, Dawn pressed the button that started lifting them up to the penthouse.

The four of them were silent as the elevator brought them to the top floor, but they all gasped when the doors opened. Part of the large window was covered in cardboard, having apparently been broken, some furniture was either missing or had been taped up and bullet holes filled the walls. Though it was clear someone had been trying to fix the mess, it was obvious what had happened. Waiting for them, was Rachel, Donna and Kory.

“Whoa.” Jason quietly exclaimed as he took in the damage.

“And this is after we already cleaned up a bit.” Rachel informed them, taking a step or two closer to them.

“Have you been able to find out what happened?” Dawn asked, putting her bag down and walking over to them. Hank and Jason did the same, but Rose stayed still.

Regretfully, Donna shook her head as she answered, “No. The cameras cut out sometime close to midnight. I think the attack happened just after that.”

“Most likely did. That’s my Dad’s MO.” Rose spoke up, causing everyone to look at her, though she was staring down at a random spot on the floor.

“What?” Rachel inquired, her brow furrowing in confusion.

Jason stared at the one-eyed girl for a second, took a few steps closer to her so he was in between her and the others, then turned back to the group and said, “Rose has something she needs to tell you guys.”

Slowly, Rose raised her head, her body tensing even more than it already was. She could already see Donna, Dawn and Hank putting the pieces together behind their confusions, but she still had to say it. They all needed to know the truth, instead of assuming and she needed to explain. Needed to apologize. It would probably be easier if she hid her gaze and avoided theirs, but they deserved her looking in their eyes as she revealed how she had betrayed them. Taking a deep breath, so he started to explain everything.

“I found out about my Dad about three years ago. I guess, he and my Mom had a one-night stand and he didn’t know anything about me. But when I found out about my healing abilities, I got curious and made my Mom tell me. When she did, I went looking for him.

“He didn’t really want anything to do with me at first, but he apparently changed his mind. He let me move in with him, and started training me. I don’t really know why, I’m not sure if there really was a reason. Part of me kind of wonders if he was wanting me to be his partner in crime or something, but I don’t know for sure. Then, about four months ago, he came home all angry. He had seen on TV that a group called the ‘Titans’ were back.”

“You see why that was a bad idea Jason?” Hank suddenly cut it, remembering how annoyed he was by the kid when he first met him. He still did annoy him, but it was tolerable now.

“Shut up.” Jason told him before turning back to the teenage girl. “Rose, keep going.”

“Dad then, told me about Jericho. His version anyways. Said you guys were a gang and had gone out and murdered him to get back at you, or something like that. He wanted vengeance and wanted me to help him get it. I said okay, so we started planning, but then, he said that we needed to do something to make you guys feel sorry for me, to give you a reason,” Rose paused, remembering how terrified she had become when her Dad told her how they were going to get sympathy from the group then continued, “give Dick a reason to want to help me.”

“Your eye.” Rachel quickly realized.

“I didn’t think he was serious. But he was and I ran. He caught up and, used his sword and cut out my eye.” Rose revealed, feeling her hands start to tremble as the memories of that night tried to get to the forefront of her mind. Not wanting to remember what happened, ever again, she forced them back.

“So you were his mole?” Dawn questioned, even though the answer was clear.

Before Rose could responded, Rachel said, “Wait, then, were you the one who drew crosses on my mirror?”

“Yeah. I also moved the alcohol, the picture and the orange soda.” Rose admitted, shooting a guilty glance at Jason, knowing that they had blamed him, then looked back at the others and continued. “I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to help Slade after everything he did, after actually meeting you all and realizing there was more than his side of the story, but I was, scared.”

“What was his goal? To kill us?” Hank demanded, taking a threatening step closer to her. Rose instinctively took a step back while Jason went to the side, putting himself more in between them. He understood Hank’s anger, but the only person it should be put on was Slade, not Rose.

“I think he wants to, but he wants you all to suffer first. Especially Dick. He wanted me to make you all turn on each other, to weaken you so he can take you out.” Rose answered, avoiding his eyes.

“And we fell for it.” Dawn mumbled, angry not just at Slade, but at herself, Hank and Donna for walking right into Slade’s messed up trap.

“Where are the others?” Donna then questioned with a harsh tone, sounding almost exactly like Hank which slightly surprised Rose as she was one of the ones the laid into Dick the worst when he revealed his lie.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. He never told me all of his plans at once. I have no idea what he was planning to do when we all left the Tower.” Rose replied, her voice filled with sincerity. Though she had a bit of mixed feelings about the original Titans’ part in her brother’s death and how they kept it a secret from them, she knew that it was her father who was more at fault and that they didn’t deserve whatever Slade wanted to do them.

Jason quickly looked back over at Wonder Girl and asked, “What about the tracker that Batman put in Dick? They should be able to find them from that, right?"

“I already checked. Nothing.” Donna answered, turning her head to look at him.

“Meaning it’s either off, he’s somewhere where the signal can’t reach, like where he took Jason, or he’s,” Dawn stopped, suddenly finding herself unable to even process the fact that Dick and Gar and the other boy might actually be dead, let alone say it out loud.

“It would still be transmitting even if he was dead.” Jason told her. It was only then that Dawn remembered how Slade had cut out Jason’s tracker and put it on Dr. Light’s dead body.

Worried and frustrated, Kory said, “So that’s it? We have nothing? We do nothing?” Even though she had gotten there before Hank, Dawn, Jason and Rose, she hadn’t heard of any plans of what they should do now. Of how to find out where Dick, Gar and Conner had gone.

“Maybe Slade took Dick where he took Jason?” Rachel suggested. Turning to face the currant Robin, she asked, “Do you remember where you were?”

Before Jason could tell her that while he remembered the surroundings of where he was held prisoner with crystal clear clarity but was blindfolded when Slade moved him, Rose cut in, saying, “Slade wouldn’t have done that. He’d know that’s the first place we’d look.”

The adults shot her a glare, but didn’t respond. It was quite clear that they were still mad at her, but were focusing more on their friends. At least they had their priorities straight right now, and they were willing to listen to any advice she could give them about the monster that was her father. That made her feel somewhat useful, so she doubted that she wouldn’t fully find out the consequences of her actions until after. If they could be so cold and heartless to Dick, who was their friend and leader, over such a tiny lie that ultimately didn’t change anything, what would they do to her?

“What if Dick, Gar and Conner actually are…” Rachel’s terrified voice suddenly pulled Rose from her thoughts, just in time to see Kory wrap a comforting arm around the girl’s shoulders. Donna’s gaze was also drawn to the black and blue haired girl as she said, “Slade wouldn’t move dead bodies.”

“So what do we do now?” Jason questioned. Now that Rose had told everyone the truth and they had already gone through the leads they had and found nothing, they needed a new course of action. Needed to do something that would lead them to their missing teammates and the assassin.

“Well, we should,” Donna started, then stopped when they heard the sound of a door slam open and an alarm blaring.

“What the h*ll?” Hank asked as they started rushing towards the hall to where the sound had come from. Before they could actually get there, a figure appeared at the other end of the hall by the door that led to the roof. A figure dressed in black and orange, who was holding a sniper rifle and was pointing it right at them.

“Run!” Donna shouted as Deathstroke started firing.

Everyone immediately ran for cover. Rachel, Kory and Donna ducked behind one of the couches, while Hank and Dawn ran for the kitchen. Rose and Jason also tried to make their way over there, but with the bullets flying, Jason ducked to protect his head, losing his balance and falling to the ground in the process.

“Jason!” Rachel yelled when she saw him fall, still out in the open where Deathstroke could easily shot him. Dawn, who was the closest to him, quickly reached over to grab Jason’s arm to help him up, but Slade, having gotten to their end of the hall now, started shooting again right at them.

“Dawn!” Hank screamed at the sight of his girlfriend in danger and rushed to go protect her, but at that moment, the window, right by the spot that was covered with cardboard, shattered again by someone else breaking in.

Deathstroke stopped firing for a second, apparently surprised by sudden appearance of someone else. The man was dressed in black and dark grey with a large black cape covering his shoulders and back. On his head was a cowl that covered the top of his face with small, sharp ears on his head. Despite some having never seen this man before, they all knew who exactly who he was.

Staring at him in shock and relief, Jason whispered, “Batman?”


	7. The Watchtower

Batman, once taking in the situation, immediately charged Deathstroke, who was apparently too stunned to move in time. The Dark Knight quickly disarmed the assassin and started throwing punches, but that broke Slade out of his stupor and he instinctively started fighting back. With Deathstroke now completely distracted, Dawn again reached for Jason’s arm and pulled him to his feet. The second they were both standing, Dawn practically dragged him into the kitchen and pushed him down behind the island where Hank and Rose were now hiding.

“You two okay?” Hank asked, though his eyes were understandably focused on Dawn.

“Yeah, I think so.” Dawn answered, glancing over at Jason. She didn’t see any blood or any kind of injury so she assumed he was also fine. Turning her focus on the two men locked in battle, she whispered, “Where the h*ll did he come from?”

“No clue.” Jason said, also moving to watch the fight.

The vigilante and the criminal didn’t seem to notice or care about the others in the apartment. Their attention was solely on each other. Throwing punch after punch, kick after kick. However, they seemed to be at a stalemate. Neither seemed to be getting an advantage, until of course a golden lasso suddenly shot out and wrapped around one of Slade’s legs and pulled, bringing the assassin down to a knee.

Batman quickly took advantage and started pummeling the man in the face as Donna pulled her lasso away. The hero only got a few punches in though before Slade reacted. He drove his fist into Batman’s stomach. Then, he turned and dove out the newly broken window. Not expecting that, Batman hesitated for a second before he went to the window. From there, he saw Deathstroke grapple away from the Tower and into the city. Batman made to follow, but stop when he saw from the corner of his eye Jason, Hank, Dawn, Rose, Rachel, Donna and Kory come out from their hiding spots.

“Are you all okay?” Batman questioned, turning his attention back to the others.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Jason answered, moving to stand beside his mentor. As soon as he reached him, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I was tracking Slade. By the time I found him, he was on the move and decided to see if I could find out what his plan was. Didn’t expect him to come here.” Batman answered, looking them over carefully, needing to know if any of them were in need of medical aid. It appeared that they were all uninjured which was good.

“Glad you were here.” Jason admitted as he lowered his head a little, feeling a little embarrassed that he said that out loud. However, Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder and said, “Me too.”

Breaking the sweet moment, Donna suddenly asked, “Wait, do you know where Dick, Gar and the other boy are? What happened to them?”

“They’re fine.” Bruce told them, causing everyone to let out a relieved breath as they relaxed ever so slightly.

“Where are they?” Rachel demanded, coming over to stand in front of Batman. Jason raised his eyebrows slightly at the girl’s bravery. There were not that many people who would even try to demand something from the vigilante who would literally call himself ‘vengeance’.

“Safe.” Batman answered. His eyes then narrowed at her before he started interrogating them. “What are you all doing here?”

“I couldn’t get a hold of Dick or Gar and I got worried. So Donna and I came back to check on them and found the place a mess. We called the others.” Rachel explained, feeling her earlier bravery start to evaporate at the sight of the man’s glare.

Batman stared at her for a few second, then looked over at the others until his gaze landed Rose. Taking a step closer to her, he said, “This is Slade’s daughter?”

“Yes.” Rose answered even though it was clear he wasn’t talking to her.

“The one who helped him infiltrate this place?” Bruce asked, taking another step over to her. Like before with Hank, Jason came in between them, seeing how furious Bruce was.

“Yes.” Rose replied, doing her best to stand tall and keep the growing fear off her face.

“You were able to figure that out that quickly?” Kory questioned with a confused voice.

“They don’t call him the ‘World’s Best Detective’ for nothing.” Jason informed her, though his eyes stayed only on Bruce and Rose.

“Where’s Dick and Gar?” Rachel demanded, coming to stand by Batman’s side. “I want to see them.”

Batman again looked over at all of them before his eyes locked on Rose, again. That didn’t surprise her in the slightest. She had just admitted to being a spy for her father, to him and the others. Batman had every right to be suspicious of her, to question if he should say anything about Dick, Gar and Conner around her. If he decided to not speak around her, or let her come with him and the others, she assumed they weren’t going to stay around here much longer, she had no right to complain. However, if he did want to leave her behind, she had no idea what to do next.

“She’s here to help B.” Jason spoke up in her defense.

Batman stared at his new partner and the girl for at least two minutes before he sighed and said, “Come with me.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Dick stood beside Clark, who was dressed in his Superman suit, in front of a large window that overlooked the rec room on the floor below them. There, sitting on the couch was Roy while Gar and Conner sat on the floor in front of the TV. The three of them were completely unaware that they were being watched. More specifically, that Conner was being watched.

After getting a few hours of sleep, Dick had gotten right to work on tracking down Slade and finding every bit of information on Cadmus he could. Bruce had helped at the beginning, but then he went to see Eve, the scientist who helped Conner escape. She would know a lot more about Cadmus that any public record. However, Dick kept him updated on everything he found, especially on Slade. There were a few leads he discovered that seemed promising but due to his concussion and Wally and Roy being extremely overprotective at the moment, he couldn’t go himself. Those two could be as bad as Bruce at times.

Thankfully, neither Roy or Wally brought up his little meltdown last night which Dick gratefully appreciated. He wondered though if it was just because Gar and Conner were around. They knew that he would never want them to know how messed up his mind and emotions are right now behind his walls. However, Dick couldn’t help but notice that something seemed different with Gar. The green-haired teenager seemed to be quieter today, and Dick would often catch him staring at him when he thought no one was looking. Dick was wondering if he might have to talk to him. Maybe now that they were safe, he had time to start freaking out about Slade attacking them.

Then Superman showed up. Dick knew that he was coming and met him out by the zeta tubes before anyone else could find out. He didn’t really want to deal with Gar freaking out over the alien and he thought that Clark would prefer hearing about Conner and know the situation before actually meeting him. He couldn’t see Clark responding well at all to a teenager walking up to him and saying ‘hi, you’re my Dad because a man named Lex Luthor combined his DNA with yours and created me’. And Conner was so young and impressionable, Dick didn’t know what the clone would do if Clark freaked out. However, after Dick informed him of everything they knew about Conner, Clark stood silently in shock.

“If I knew you were just going to stare and be silent, I would’ve set my timer. I think you’re about to beat Bruce’s record.” Dick joked with a smile.

“Funny.” Clark responded, though his expression made it clear he wasn’t really amused. He then shook his head and said, “Sorry, it’s just, not every day you find out that your enemy has created a clone that’s a mix of you and him.”

“No, I guess it’s not.” Dick agreed, glancing back out the window at Conner.

Clark did the same as he asked, “What all can he do?”

“Apparently, he’s bulletproof, weak to kryptonite, incredibly strong, and can do the freeze breath thing. Oh, and he has super-hearing and he can jump really high.” Dick informed him. Though they hadn’t had time to really explore all of Conner’s powers, the boy had told them about what he had done before he had saved Jason.

“Can he fly?” Clark inquired, a furrow appearing in his brow as he glanced over at Dick.

“Not that we’re aware of but he hasn’t tried.” Dick answered.

Looking back at Conner, Clark muttered, “Can’t believe Lex did something like this.”

“Really?” Dick didn’t know Lex Luthor personally. He was Superman’s enemy and Bruce Wayne never had any dealings with the man, but Dick was well aware of all the resources Lex had. It wouldn’t be impossible for him to create a clone.

“Well, when I think of all the things he could and would do, cloning never jumped to mind.” Clark explained.

“Point.” Dick replied with a nod.

“Was it a good idea to bring him here? He’s part Lex Luthor.” Clark then wondered with a serious tone. Dick stared at him for a few seconds before looking back at Conner.

The clone was still sitting in front of the TV, pressing on something in his hands. Most likely the remote. However, the TV screen was white. Conner tilted his head to the side, reaching out to pet Krypto as Roy and Gar headed over to help.

“Yeah, he looks so dangerous.” Dick mumbled sarcastically. When Clark stayed silent, Dick sigh and continued, “Look Clark, I know this is a lot to take in, but he needs help. He’s a lost kid who has no idea who he is or how the world works at all. Only thing he does know is that he wants to help people, and he didn’t get that from Lex.”

At that, Clark turned his eyes back to Dick, who added, “He needs help, and you are kind of the only person for the job. Unless you want me to call Supergirl.”

“No, no don’t. I, I just need some time to, process this.” Clark finally responded, looking over at Conner once more time before turning around completely and start making his way away from the window.

“You don’t even want to meet him? Cause he really wants to meet you.” Dick told him. Clark stopped, looked back at Dick and answered, “Lois and I have this thing planned tonight. I’m already late. And I’ve had to cancel twice already. If I cancel again,”

“You’re sleeping on the couch?” Dick finished, a wide smile now covering his face at the thought of the other reporter’s temper when something upset or annoyed her.

“I slept on the couch last time. This time I’d be in the barn.” Clark replied. Dick couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Alright then get going, before Lois gets mad at me for keeping you.” There were few people Dick was actually a little scared of and honestly, an angry Lois Lane was one of them. “Tell her I say hi.”

“Will do.” Clark said, then continued on his way.

Dick watched the Kryptonian walk away in silence. He supposed that that went fairly well considering the circumstances. Understandably, Clark was freaked out, who wouldn’t be, and needed some time to process. Dick would give him a week, maybe two, to wrap his head around the whole thing. If Dick didn’t hear anything from him, he’d give the older hero a call. Conner wanted to meet him and they most likely were really going to need his help teaching the clone to control his powers.

Once Clark was out of sight, Dick turned and headed down to the rec room to rejoin the others. When he got there, he found Roy had come over to help Conner and Gar figure out the TV. Overhearing Conner’s questions, Gar’s answers and Roy’s barely bit back swears was surprisingly entertaining. So he simply stood there and watched. All he needed was some popcorn.

As if he was reading his mind, Wally suddenly appeared at his side, holding a bowl full of popcorn. Grabbing a handful of it, the speedster asked, “They still trying?”

“Yup.” Dick confirmed. He then reached to grab some of the popcorn, but Wally suddenly forced a sandwich that Dick hadn’t seen him holding into his hand as he said, “Here you go.”

“How come I get a sandwich and you get the popcorn?” Dick questioned, frowning at the food he was given.

“Because you need something with more substance. I know how you get when you get stressed.” Wally said pointedly, more than aware that when Dick was feeling stressed and overwhelmed, he would stop eating and sleeping. “Eat that and maybe I’ll consider sharing.”

“Jerk.” Dick mumbled, but took a bite of the sandwich as he turned his attention back to Roy, Gar and Conner.

Eating his sandwich, Dick smiled as the three tried to fix the TV. He had no idea what was wrong with it, or what they were trying to do exactly, but watching Roy try not to get frustrated was hilarious. There had been so many time he had seen the archer act like that growing up. When he, Wally and Roy were younger and they’d hang out, Roy would technically be the one in charge as he was the oldest. They’d get into a lot of trouble, but whenever Dick and Wally decided to purposely annoy Roy, he’d act just like that.

As much as he hated the situation, Dick was glad that Roy and Wally were here. He hadn’t seen them in so long, having been too busy trying to get his life together to make time to visit. With them here, Dick could almost pretend that things were normal. That he didn’t have an assassin to deal with. That his other friends hadn’t walked out on him, no matter how much he deserved it.

Finishing his sandwich, Dick reached to grab some of Wally’s popcorn. The former Robin hadn’t realized how hungry he was until the speedster forced him to eat. Unfortunately, by that point, the bowl was empty. Dick gave Wally a faux-betrayed look though honestly, he should’ve expected that. The man beside him could eat a restaurant dry due to his powers. Had actually done that once because of a dare. Wally just shrugged, not looking guilty in the slightest.

“Dick?” A familiar, female voice suddenly broke the silence, causing everyone to turn around.

There, in the entrance to one of the many halls in the Watchtower, stood Rachel, Kory, Donna, Dawn, Hank, Jason and Rose. In front of them, as though he had been leading them which he probably was, was Bruce dressed in his Batman suit. Dick felt his mouth open slightly in shock. After everything that happened, Dick didn’t really think he’d see any of them again. Or at least, not for a very long time. Yet here they were, looking a bit shaken but relieved. As though they had previously been worried about something but Dick didn’t know why or what about.

Rachel felt her entire body flood with relief when she saw Dick standing in the room they were approaching, his back to them. When she called out his name, he and the person beside him both turned while Gar, Conner and another man, who were all crouched by the TV, stood up. Rachel didn’t really pay them any attention as her eyes were locked on the three bandaged cuts on the right side of his face and the bruised left eye. She took a small step forward, intending to run and hug him, and heal his injuries, but the person standing beside Dick, holding an empty bowl, moved to stand slightly in front of him. It was as though he was protecting him, like he thought she was going to attack the man who had taken her in.

Gar stared at the group as he moved closer to Dick’s side. They all looked relieved, but he didn’t understand why. They had left Dick, had left him. Had treated their leader like crap. Yet here they were. But why? As far as Gar was aware of, no one tried to call them or anything. He didn’t even have cell phone with him. He left it at the Tower. And why did they look so relieved to see them?

Dick didn’t look relieved. He looked confused, which told Gar that he also didn’t know why their ‘friends’ were here. Conner also seemed confused but, in his defense, he had no clue what had happened. Roy and Wally on the other hand were barely keeping their anger hidden. Gar already knew that they knew about how Dick lied about Jericho’s death and the reactions of the others and were apparently on Dick’s side, but it was now clear. Wally had even moved a little to stand more in front of Dick, as though he was silently telling the newcomers not to come anywhere near them. It seemed to actually throw them off.

_Well good,_ Gar thought bitterly. Why should they expect any different? They were terrible to Dick, especially Hank, Donna and Dawn, even though it wasn’t his fault. Did they seriously think that they could do that, leave, and then come back and act like nothing’s changed? Well, they couldn’t. If they wanted to do that, then they had to deal with the consequences.

“What? What are you guys doing here?” Dick questioned, but before anyone could answer, his gaze focused on Bruce and asked, “What happened?”

“The intel you got on Deathstroke was good. I found him, right before he started moving. Followed him to the Tower where he attacked them.” Bruce explained, causing Dick’s eyes to widen.

“Are you all okay?” Dick wondered, looking them all over for any sign that they were hurt.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Rachel replied. She took a small step forward, wanting to rush over to the former Robin and hug him despite the person beside Dick subtly blocking him, but there was something in his eyes, and something about the way the person beside him was watching her that stopped her. Just the way Dick was standing screamed _don’t touch me_. 

“What were you guys doing at the Tower?” Dick then wondered. He had hoped that Slade would leave them alone after they left, and maybe he had been intending to, but they had come back. Why? They had made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Why would they come back?

“I couldn’t get a hold of you, or Gar, and I had a really bad feeling.” Rachel said, not needing to explain her _bad feeling_ as Dick was fully aware of what she was meant. Glancing over her shoulder at Donna, Rachel continued. “So, I talked Donna into going back with me. When we saw the mess and realized what happened, we called the others.”

Dick nodded once before turning back to Bruce and said, “Slade?”

“Got away. I had,” Bruce paused, glaring at the group behind him from the corner of his eyes before finishing, “other, unexpected, priorities to take care of.”

The police detective clenched his fist, frustrated that the assassin was still out there, but forced himself to calm down and looked back at the others. “And you guys are sure you’re okay?”

“We’re alright. Promise.” Kory answered, giving him a sincere smile though her worried eyes focused on the cuts on Dick’s head.

“Did you find any more information about Slade last we talked?” Bruce suddenly changed the subject, taking a few steps closer to his first partner.

“A little. I’ll show you.” Dick responded then walked off to the side where there was an opening into another hallway that the newcomers didn’t notice until now without another word. Batman followed right behind him.

Hank, Dawn, Donna, Kory, Rachel, Jason and Rose watched them leave, then turned their attention to Gar, Conner, Krypto and the two other men in the room with them. Donna, Hank and Dawn knew Wally and Roy, having met them a while ago, not long before they started the Titans. They knew that they were best friends with Dick, but they didn’t expect to see them here. The younger heroes however, had no idea who they were. Even Jason hadn’t met them, not having been Robin for long.

“Who are you?” Rachel asked the man who had been standing beside Dick before he left.

“This is Wally West.” Donna answered before Wally could. However, with a slightly cocky grin, he added, “Also known as the Flash.”

“Flash?” Kory questioned. Since she hadn’t been on earth long, she didn’t know much about earth’s superheroes. Donna hadn’t talked much about the heroes either.

“Speedster. Fastest man alive. Originally Kid Flash until the original Flash retired.” Wally explained. He wanted to reach his hand out to shake theirs, but he quickly remembered what they had done to Dick, his best friend, and stopped himself.

“And that’s Roy Harper.” Donna gestured to the other man standing by Gar and Conner. After Roy nodded, the Amazon gestured to the redheaded alien and said, “This is Kory.”

“Nice to finally meet you.” Kory greeted the brunette.

“You too.” Roy responded, giving her another nod before glaring at Donna who actually seemed to shrink slightly at the sight.

“Are you a superhero too?” Rachel asked.

“Red Arrow. I worked with the Green Arrow growing up.”

“Why are you guys here?” Hank changed the subject.

“Because a friend needed us and we weren’t going to just ditch him.” Wally shot angrily, then stomped off before they could respond. Roy gave them all another glare before following right behind the speedster.

“I think they’re mad at us.” Dawn surmised as soon as they were gone.

“Not just them.” Gar muttered, then shoved past them to go down the hall that they had just come from.

“Gar,” Rachel called out, but he was gone before she could say anything else. They were now alone with Conner who was just standing there watching them.

Hank, Dawn, Donna, Kory, Rachel, Jason and Rose stared at each other. They weren’t sure what to expect when they reunited with Dick, Gar and Conner, hadn’t even thought about it. They were too worried that their friends were injured, or possibly dead. But now that they had seen for themselves that they were okay, and were safe, they had no idea what to do.

Still watching them, Conner innocently asked, “Do you guys know how a TV works?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought that we needed a little bit humour to counteract the angst. Hope you all liked it! See you guys next time!


	8. The Toll it Takes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important note at the end of the chapter! Hope you all like this chapter!

Rachel let out a frustrated sigh as she flopped over to lie on her back. After they got to the Watchtower, they had a quick supper with Conner, then went straight to bed. It was late when they had gotten there and with all the traveling they had done in the last 24 hours, they were all exhausted. Despite that, Rachel couldn’t sleep. Her body wanted rest, but her brain wouldn’t stop racing. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dick and Gar.

She hadn’t really expected Gar to be angry at her, but thinking it over, she could see why he’d be upset. He was her best friend yet she left him without a second thought. Not to mention the fact they had been fighting beforehand. Ultimately though, her focus was on Dick. How he had reacted when he saw them. The injuries visible on his face. How his other friends, Wally and Roy, had reacted at the sight of them. While she knew next to nothing about them, it was clear that they knew what had happened. And that made Rachel feel embarrassed and a little ashamed.

Glancing over at the clock, Rachel saw it was almost eight in the morning. Quickly doing the math, she knew she had gotten some sleep but not much. And the little she did get, didn’t feel like sleep at all. It felt like she had just blinked. Deciding it was a reasonable time to get up, she climbed out of bed and made her way out of the room. Going to the door that was right beside hers, she gave it a quick knock. Hopefully Kory was up. Maybe she could help her figure out what to do about Dick and Gar.

“Come in.” Kory’s voice answered quietly through the door. Rachel pushed it open and entered the room. The redhead was pushing herself up on the bed she was lying on, a frown appearing on her face as the teenager walked over to the other side of the bed.

“You look like crap.” Kory commented while Rachel sat down beside her, leaning against the headboard.

“Didn’t sleep. Too much on my mind.” Rachel responded.

“Like?” Kory prodded, looking at her with a concerned expression.

“Dick.” Rachel said simply. Kory nodded, but stayed quiet, allowing Rachel to continue. “I was so busy being mad, then worried that I didn’t think at all what would happen when we saw him again.”

Kory slipped her arm around Rachel’s shoulders and said, “Sweetie, Dick loves you. Right now, he’s just a bit hurt and is focusing on finding Slade.”

“He’s hurt?” Rachel questioned, turning her head to face the alien. She knew that Dick had the cuts on his head and a bruised eye, but she had a feeling that that wasn’t what Kory was talking about.

“Rach, do you need me to remind you of how you all acted when he told us the truth about Jericho’s death?” Kory wondered with a pointed look. Rachel couldn’t help but flinch as she recalled how they had all reacted at Dick’s confession. It was pretty bad and regardless whether or not Dick deserved, it was pretty harsh and had to have hurt his feelings.

“No, but he lied to us.” Rachel somewhat tried to defend herself. Kory, instead of seeming to understand like she always did, looked more annoyed.

“First off, he probably thought it was a part of his past that was buried. I highly doubt he ever thought Slade was going to come back. And when he did, yes he told the truth. Unlike Hank, Dawn and Donna.” Kory responded with a slightly bitter tone. She then looked pointedly at Rachel again before she added, “And he’s not the only one keeping secrets here.”

Rachel flinched again and ducked her head, avoiding Kory’s gaze. “I wanted to take care of it myself.”

“And he probably felt the same way about Slade. He didn’t want any of you involved because he was trying to keep you all safe.” Kory pointed out.

The purple-haired girl hadn’t really thought about that. She knew that Dick was very protective over them but at the time, it felt like he didn’t trust them and didn’t want them to know what was really going on. It didn’t really occur to her until now that Dick was most likely just trying to keep them safe. Especially now knowing that Slade had killed Garth and Jericho, and almost killed both Donna and Dick. Plus, it was actually hypocritical that she was mad at Dick for keeping secrets when she was still doing the same. Trust Kory to put everything into perspective.

“So what do I do?” Rachel asked, lifting her head to meet her friend’s eyes, desperate for some kind of answer, some kind of advice. Kory however shrugged and said, “Only thing you really can do is apologize and give him some space.”

Rachel bit back a frustrated groan. She wanted a simple answer with an instant solution. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled loudly. Kory chuckled at the sound and said, “Come on. Let’s see if they have any more food here.”

The two then stood up and left the room. To their surprise, outside in the hallway, were Hank, Dawn and Donna. They had apparently woken up, though Rachel kind of doubted they actually slept due to the dark circles under their eyes, and decided to go get food. Or go to the bathroom or something. It was a little amusing and weird that they were up and leaving their rooms at the same time.

“Morning.” Dawn said politely as her eyes fell on them.

“Hey.” Rachel responded, stifling a yawn.

“Oh, you guys are all up too.” Jason suddenly joined the conversation as he exited his room. To Rachel’s surprise, Rose followed right after him even though she knew that Bruce had given the girl her own room. She had no idea when Jason and Rose had gotten that close, but thinking about it now, it must’ve happened at some point as they had left the Tower together.

“Barely slept.” Donna informed him, lifting a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned.

“Me neither.” Rachel chimed in.

“Same.” Dawn revealed. Beside her, Hank nodded reluctantly. Neither Jason or Rose said anything, but the slight dark circles under their eyes told everyone that they had the same problem.

Silently, they all headed down the hall towards the kitchen/dining room. Once they got near the entrance, Rachel felt her eyebrows rise. They could hear familiar voices from the room. Dick’s, Gar’s, Conner’s and two others that Rachel assumed were Roy and Wally. She wasn’t that surprised that they were up, Dick was always an early riser, but what was a little surprising was that she could hear Dick laughing. An actual, real, happy laugh. She had never heard anything like it before.

As soon as they entered the room and were noticed by the others, that immediately stopped. Looking around, she quickly spotted Dick sitting right by the end of the table, where Wally was sitting. Gar sat on Dick’s other side, and Roy and Conner were by the coffee maker on the counter in the kitchen area with Krypto right by Conner’s feet. The atmosphere filled with tension as Roy and Wally somewhat glared at them, while Dick and Gar seemed to be doing their best to ignore them. Conner however didn’t seem to notice anything going on.

“Morning.” Rachel greeted everyone, though her eyes focused on Dick and Gar. Gar glanced up to glare at her and the others with her, but Dick didn’t lift his eyes or head at all. Everyone else at the table mumbled ‘morning’ back to her with cold and uninterested tones. Except of course for Conner.

“Have you guys ever heard of ‘coffee’?” The clone asked with an excited smile. He took a sip from the mug in his hands and said, “It’s amazing.”

“Yes. And I need some, now.” Jason replied, making his way towards the coffee maker.

“Stuff’s there.” Roy told him, making his way to the empty chair on the other side of Wally with his own mug. Looking at it, Jason could clearly see that a pot of coffee had been made but was all gone, leaving him to make more. He didn’t mind though. That how it was in the Tower. If you wanted coffee and the pot was empty, you make it yourself. Plus, Conner was still standing there and he wanted to talk to him.

Dick, staring at Conner who was drinking more of the caffeinated liquid, mumbled, “I feel like I’m going to regret letting him have it.”

“If he gets too energetic we can just let him loose in the training room.” Roy suggested, looking over his shoulder at the clone.

“Yeah, good idea.” Dick agreed, then turned back to his breakfast. His attention however was soon drawn towards the others who had just joined them when they sat at the table. He been intending to do his best to ignore them and stay out of their way until they got the whole situation dealt with, but then he noticed Rachel let out a large yawn.

“You okay?”

“Just didn’t sleep very well.” Rachel answered, meeting his worried gaze. Dick held it for a for seconds, then looked away, unaware of the guilty and pained expression on her face when he did so.

“Did you find anything about Slade?” Kory questioned, looking intently at Dick. The former Robin didn’t at all mind looking at her. Yes she had left, but he couldn’t truly expect her to stick around and help him solve his problems. She had nothing to do with it. And she had her own issues to deal with.

“Found something. Batman’s checking it out right now.” Dick filled her in without giving any details. He wasn’t sure how involved they all wanted to be and he wasn’t sure what was all going on with Rose.

“Um, Dick?” Rose suddenly spoke up. Whether it was because she realized why Dick wasn’t telling them the details or was just suddenly wracked with guilt and needing to confess, Dick didn’t know, but he gave her his attention and waited patient. Seeing that, Rose continued, “There’s something I should tell you.”

“That you were working for Slade? Yeah I know.” Dick revealed, clearly shocking her and everyone else. Except for Wally, Roy and Gar. He had already told them about Rose the other day. They were curious as to how Slade had found the Tower where he attacked them in the first place. He wasn’t sure what all Conner knew as Gar had been trying to fill him in on everything going on, but he still seemed a bit confused and oblivious.

“For how long?” Hank demanded angrily and Dick forced himself not to flinch. He understood why Hank would be furious with that confession. If Dick had known all along that Rose was a mole and didn’t say anything, then he had put all their lives in danger even more than he already had.

“Not long.” Dick answered. He had figured it out the second he saw the pictures of him and the other heroes and teenagers at the church when he was trying to hunt down Slade. With all the security that their home had, it would’ve been impossible for someone, even someone as skilled as Slade, to get inside without setting off an alert. Unless of course he had someone on the inside, and Rose was the only real suspect.

“You’re not mad?” Rose questioned with an incredulous tone of voice.

“I’m not happy, but I don’t blame you.” Dick responded, staring directly into her eye so that she could see his sincerity. No one would be happy finding out they had a mole among them, but Slade was her father and Jericho was her brother. Of course she would instinctively side with the assassin and against the people who had gotten her sibling killed.

Guilt seemed to swirl in her eye as she said, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Dick nodded in acceptance, then turned his attention back to his plate.

For the next several minutes, everyone was quiet. The only sound was the scrapping of their utensils on their plates as they ate. Rachel kept glancing up at Dick and Gar, but only Gar ever looked her way, and it was just to glare at her. Maybe she should start with Gar before talking to Dick.

“Can dogs drink coffee?” Conner suddenly broke the silence. Dick looked up to see Krypto was staring up at his owner with sad, puppy-dog eyes that was clearly upsetting Conner.

“No.” Roy answered, slipping into his ‘parent’ voice that he had perfected back when he was a teenager and was looking after Dick and Wally. Now though, he usually only used it on Lian.

“But he looks so sad.” Conner objected. As if to agree with Conner’s statement, Krypto let out a sad whine.

“Conner, do not give him coffee. Or any other drink besides water.” Dick ordered. Conner didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded and said, “Okay.”

“So what are we doing today then, if Batman is hunting Slade?” Jason changed the topic. While he couldn’t deny a small part of him was a little terrified of the man who had nearly killed him, a larger part wanted to pound his face in.

Avoiding his gaze, Dick replied, “I’m going to keep looking into Slade and Cadmus.”

“You should get some more sleep.” Roy told him, giving the original Robin a pointedly look and that was clearly ignored.

“Plus, it’s not a good idea to be in front of a screen for a long time when you have a concussion.” Wally added, agreeing with the archer that Dick needed a break. Wally wasn’t fully sure when Dick went to bed last night, but it was well past midnight.

“You have a concussion?” Rachel wondered, sounding extremely worried. Dick risked a peak at her, and the others, and was a little stunned to see that they all looked concerned.

“A minor one. Nothing to be worried abo – hey!” Dick exclaimed. As he was talking, Rachel had leaned over the table, practically laying on it so she could reach him, and put her hand against his cheek. Almost instantly, Dick could feel the scabbed cuts on his face disappear, along with the dull throbbing in his head and left eye from when Hank had punched him.

Pulling her hand back, Rachel asked, “Better?”

“Yeah actually. You didn’t have to do that but thank you.” Dick told her, reaching up to pull off the now useless bandages. Beside him, Wally poked his cheek where a cut had been, fascinated by the fact it was now gone. Dick resisted the urge to elbow him to get him stop.

“Least I could do.” Rachel said with shrug and small smile.

“So, do you need some help hunting Slade? And finding out about Cadmus?” Jason asked, then frowned when he realized he had no idea what Cadmus was or what it had to do with them. “Whatever that is.”

“Cadmus is the name of the facility that created Conner.” Gar informed him.

“And I’ll be helping him. I’m a _speed_ reader after all.” Wally said, smirking at the small joke.

“We should probably get going on that actually.” Dick told the speedster. Wally nodded and, after putting their dirty dishes away, made their way out of the room, Dick saying, “See you all later,” as they went.

“Is letting them go off alone really a good idea?” Donna wondered, looking over at Roy once they were gone. However, before he could answer, Jason asked, “What do you mean?”

“When Dick and Wally are left without supervision, they tend to get in trouble.” Wonder Woman’s partner explained.

“Donna, they were 15. I think they’re more mature now.” Roy finally chimed in, his tone full of annoyance, though whether it was because she was recalling something from years ago, or because he was mad at her, she didn’t fully know.

“What happened when they were 15?” Jason asked, eyes bright with curiosity, though it was more likely he just wanted to hear embarrassing stories of his predecessor.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” Roy shut down as he stood up from the table, his empty plate and cup in his hands. As he did that, his eyes landed on Donna, filled with fury and she knew that soon, she’d have to deal with that.

**2018TITANS2018**

About an hour later, Donna was alone with in the dining room with Roy. She wasn’t sure where everyone else went and honestly, she didn’t care at the moment. Right now, her focus was on figuring out a way to talk to Roy without him blowing up at her. Once she realized that Dick must’ve told him what happened, she knew he’d be furious and he clearly was. He was just as close to Dick as she was, and he was also one of her best friends. They needed to clear the air. She also needed to clear the air with Dick, but she wasn’t ready for that yet.

“So, you’re mad.” Donna stated, coming into the kitchen part of the room where Roy was.

“That surprises you?” Roy inquired, his tone filled barely controlled rage.

Crossing her arms, she asked, “Did Dick tell you everything?”

“Yes, he did. Told me and Wally about how Jericho really died, how he lied about it, how he told the truth.” Roy replied, turning to face her. Crossing his own arms, he continued, “And when he did, it became abundantly clear that while he may have come clean, you have not.”

Donna immediately tensed up. A couple of months after Garth died, she and Roy were hanging out, which ended up involving a visit to a club where Donna decided to down as much alcohol as she could. While she wasn’t really the type to indulge in booze to the point where she got drunk, but she was having a hard time and just wanted to numb the pain for a bit. During her drunk stupor however, she revealed to Roy everything about Garth, Slade and Jericho.

How she had lied to Dick about having to go back to Themyscira. How she was trying to run from Garth. How Jillian told her that she was taking over the hunt for Slade and she didn’t tell anyone, and how she pressured the others to continue using Jericho so she could get revenge for Garth and how it ended. The next morning, while nursing a massive hangover, Roy insisted that she come clean, but Donna told him that it didn’t matter. The situation was over and there was no point in telling Dick, Dawn and Hank what all happened. Roy didn’t like it, but agreed to keep it secret when he saw how much pain Donna was in. Now though, it seemed like it was time for her to pay for it.

“Roy,” Donna started, but he immediately cut her off.

“I don’t want to hear it Donna. You are more guilty than Dick is and I didn’t say anything because I thought you both just wanted to get past it. But Dick has been suffering under the guilt for what happened for five years, and now that is has come back up, you still keep your mouth shut and allow him to take more of the blame than he deserves.” Donna ducked her head, avoiding his gaze, but Roy wasn’t done.

“You used to say that Dick is like your little brother. Remember that?” Roy then asked. Wordlessly, Donna nodded, her eyes starting to burn as the memories of all the times she called Dick her brother filled her mind.

“Well for the last five years, you put him through h*ll because you can’t deal with what happened with Jericho and Garth. And now, you’ve made it even worse. You’ve got him thinking that you, and everyone else, hates him. So yeah, I’m mad. Because he is probably the person who deserves it the least. Yes, he makes mistakes but we all have and do. At least he’s trying to make it right, unlike you, Hank and Dawn.” Roy told her. Donna didn’t have any defense to that, because he was right. As much as she wanted to put the blame on someone, it wasn’t just Dick’s fault. They all had played a part in it but she, Hank and Dawn had left, leaving only Dick to take care of it, as if it was only his problem.

Roy was silent for a minute, then sighed and said, “If you don’t tell him and the others the truth Donna, I will.”

“Roy, you promised.” Donna protested, her head snapping up to look at him, her arms falling to her sides.

“I made that promise before I saw what it was doing to Dick. He’s my little brother too Donna, and unlike you, I care about him. So you ‘fess up, or I will do it for you.” Roy threatened, then turned around so she was looking at his back, clearly dismissing her. Knowing that there was nothing she could say or do to change his mind, she left the room, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

**2018TITANS2018**

Adeline Wilson let out an exhausted sigh as she entered her small apartment, locking the door behind her. It had been another long and tiring shift at work. She wanted to crawl into her bed and sleep until her shift tomorrow, even though she hadn’t had supper yet. She didn’t really care about that. Despite five years passing, she hated coming to a silent and empty home. It could’ve even be called a home. Not without her son. Not without Jericho.

When Adelina had Jericho, the home always seemed brighter, happier. The place was filled with music and smiles, even when they left Slade and went into hiding. Since the night when Jericho was stabbed and was forced to jump into Slade’s body, there was none of that. She rarely got to see her son. Her ex-husband said it was better that way. That he could keep him safe, but Adeline always wondered if Slade had another motive. Slade and Jericho didn’t get along very well, which was not helped by Slade’s constant absences. She wouldn’t be surprised if Slade decided to take advantage of the situation and force Jericho to have no one but him. Adeline didn’t like it, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Turning the lights on, she shrugged off her coat and turned around and shrieked. There, standing half in the shadows casted by the dim light, stood a man. For split second, she thought it was Slade, but the man was taller and bulkier than her ex, and he was wearing a different suit. It was black and dark grey with a bat emblem on the chest. On his head was a black cowl which masked the top of his face and seemed to be connect to a long, black cape. She had never him before but she knew who he was. Batman.

“Adeline Wilson?” Batman’s voice was deep and gruff, and even though he worded it like a question, it was clear he knew who she was. She still nodded in response. She may not have met Batman, but she knew she did not want to make him an enemy.

“Where is your husband Slade?” Batman inquired, standing as still as a statue.

“I, I don’t know.” Adeline answered with a shaky voice, taking a step backward.

Batman titled his head to the side and asked, “You expect me to believe that?”

“Slade’s my ex-husband. Has been for years.” Adeline informed him, trying to convince him that she knew nothing.

“And yet, I have evidence that he has been in contact with you and has come up to see you.” Batman responded, now taking a threatening step towards her. Seeing the obvious fear in her eyes though, he added, “I just need his location. He has killed several people, and recently tried to kill both of my partners.”

Adeline stayed silent for a moment, thinking. She knew her husband wasn’t a good man. That he hadn’t been since he was discharged from the military and should pay for his numerous crimes. However, Jericho was innocent. It was already bad enough that he was trapped in someone else’s body, unable to do anything unless Slade let him. If Slade was punished, then Jericho would be too. Yet, this might actually be the opportunity that she had been waiting for. Batman was a part of the Justice League. Maybe they would be able to help her son.

“If I tell you, I need something in return. Your help.” Adeline finally responded.

“Help with what?” Batman questioned, sounding a bit wary of what she might ask.

“Help with my son, Jericho.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this upcoming week, I am extremely busy with work and it’s actually my birthday this upcoming Friday. Because of that, I’m sorry but I won’t posting a chapter next week. I just don’t think I’ll have time. Sorry, I hope you all understand.


	9. Bad Blood's Wearing Thin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Happy Holidays to EVERYONE!!! I hope you are all having a GREAT holiday! I considered taking another week off for Christmas, but I had already taken a week off and, well, I can’t really give you guys gifts so I thought maybe a chapter will do? Also, I was originally planning on this story having 15 chapters, but I had to add another one. So it’s now 16 chapters. Chapter title is taken from a line in the song A Little Faster by There For Tomorrow. I hope you all like this chapter!

Rachel didn’t see Dick at all during the day. Not even at lunch or supper, but both of those meals were a fend-for-yourself meal. She didn’t see much of Roy or Wally either. The few times she did, she asked where Dick was, as it appeared they were keeping an eye on him, and all they said was that he was still working on finding Slade. The fact that they didn’t say where he was exactly told her that either Dick just wanted to focus on his task, or didn’t want to see her or the others.

That messed with her thoughts a bit. When she first met Dick, it was awkward. He was definitely trying, but they had a hard time connecting. Especially when she learned that he had been planning to leave her with Hank and Dawn. But eventually, they found their rhythm. He became her protector, guardian, friend and father figure. Now, it was like he wanted nothing to do with her and that hurt. Granted this time she was the one who left and she should’ve realized that there would be consequences to that. That didn’t lessen the hurt though, nor did it help her come up with a way to fix things.

So instead, she went looking for Gar. She figured that it would be easier to talk to him and fix her relationship with him than Dick. And since Gar had stayed with Dick, maybe he could help her figure out how to fix things with their leader. Unless he was too angry. Gar wasn’t the bitter type but they had never been in a situation like this before. She had no idea what Gar was going to do.

Hearing noises coming from the training room, Rachel quickened her pace a little and entered the doorway. Only Gar was inside, punching a dummy near the middle of them room. She was grateful and a little surprised that he was alone. She would’ve thought Conner or Jason would also be in here with him. Deciding not to question it, she walked further into the room and said, “Hey.”

Gar looked over at her, then mumbled, “Hey,” and turned his attention back to the practice dummy.

“Can we talk?” Rachel asked, her stomach clenching with nerves.

“About what?” Gar questioned, not taking his eyes off the dummy.

“About what all happened, at the Tower, when Dick told us what happened to Jericho.”

“What’s there to talk about?” He asked, punching the dummy hard across its face. “Dick told us the truth. Hank, Dawn and Donna decided to pretend they had nothing to do with how they used Jericho to get to Slade and blamed it on Dick. You got mad even though you didn’t really have a reason to and you all left. Then Slade attacked and almost killed us.”

Rachel opened her mouth, planning on explaining what had been going on in her head, but paused when she realized that Gar didn’t mention the other two who left that day. Well, three but she knew that Kory had only left because something personal had come up.

“What about Jason and Rose?”

“Considering Jericho was Rose’s brother and Slade almost killed Jason, I kinda think they have the right to be angry.” Gar replied. Turning his gaze over to her, his eyes hard, he added, “Unlike you, Hank, Dawn and Donna.”

“Gar,” Rachel started, but her friend immediately interrupted her.

“I mean, you were the one who said you didn’t want to tell Dick about the issues with your powers because you didn’t want him to think he was a failure. Well, not only was that kind of a sucky reason, you guys managed to do that without telling your secret.

“And that’s another thing.” Gar continued before Rachel could even think of a response. “You got all angry about Dick keeping that big of a secret from us, yet your secret almost killed me, Jason and Rose.”

“You’re right, I did.” Rachel admitted, looking down at the ground. Apparently though, Gar still wasn’t done his rant.

“You know Rach, Dick didn’t have to help you. You were a random girl he didn’t know who just showed up where he was working and basically demanded that he help you. And if it wasn’t for him, you’d probably be dead. He was under no obligation to help you but he did it because that’s the kind of guy he is. Helping people who need it without even thinking about how it would disrupt his own life.”

That made Rachel’s mouth go dry as she felt her stomach drop. She had never even thought of her first meeting with Dick from his perspective. She really was just a girl who showed up out of nowhere and begged for help. He didn’t have to come after her when that cop tried to have her killed. He didn’t have to take her to Hank and Dawn’s, didn’t have to come after her when she got kidnapped by that crazy family. Yet he did, even though he didn’t know her. Even though she wasn’t that open with him for the first few days. Yet he did, and she didn’t think she ever thanked him for that.

“Um, guys?” The teenagers both turned around and saw Kory standing in the doorway looking extremely awkward. “Batman’s back. He wants to talk to us. We’re meeting in the rec room.”

Gar immediately took the protective wrappings off his hands, letting them drop to the floor, and stormed out of the room. Kory reached a hand out to him, easily seeing that he was upset. He twisted out of reach though and headed down the hall. The redhead then gave the purple-hair girl a sad look before she waved her over. As much as Rachel felt wrung out from Gar’s words and just wanted to cry, she forced those emotions back and made her way over to Kory. Once she reached her, Kory placed a comforting arm around her shoulders and led her to where everyone was gathering.

**2018TITANS2018**

By the time Rachel and Kory got to the rec room, Gar had beaten them there. Dick, Roy, Wally, Dawn, Donna, Hank, Conner, Jason and Rose were also already there waiting there with Batman. Even Krypto was there, sitting right by Conner’s feet. They all looked over in their direction when they heard them coming, then looked over at Batman.

“So, what did you find Batman?” Jason asked once Rachel and Kory came to stand by the rest of them.

“Adeline Wilson, Slade’s ex-wife.” Batman said, surprising everyone but Dick as he was the one who found evidence of Slade visiting her during the last five years. “She has informed me of where Slade is now hiding.”

“And how would she know?” Hank questioned.

“Because Slade had gone to visit her during the last five years. He did it under the radar, but Dick had found proof and she confirmed it.” Batman informed them, glaring a little at Hank as he did so.

“Why would she do that? I thought she hates the guy.” Dawn chimed in with a confused tone of voice.

“Because of Jericho.” That had everyone staring at him in confusion. “Apparently, he’s still alive.”

Dick felt his jaw drop open. He could feel the others’ eyes turn to land on him, but his gaze stayed locked on Bruce. For a moment, he wondered if Bruce was lying, but he quickly threw that thought away. He knew when Bruce was lying, and he was not lying. Plus, Bruce wouldn’t lie to him about something as serious as this anyways. But, it didn’t make sense. He had seen Slade stab Jericho with his own eyes, saw his body. How could he still be alive?

“What?” Rose gasped, her mouth and eyes wide open.

“According to Adeline, Jericho also got powers from Slade, like you Rose.” Batman started to explain and the wheels started turning in Dick’s head. He had forgotten about Jericho’s powers.

“Healing powers?” Rose questioned.

“No. He has the ability where if he makes eye contact with someone, he can jump into their body and control them. When Slade stabbed Jericho, he jumped into his father’s body.” Batman answered.

“Wait, are you saying it’s actually Jericho who was attacking us?” Donna asked.

“No. Slade is too strong for Jericho to take control unless Slade lets him, which he hardly ever does. He’s basically been a prisoner inside Slade’s head for the last five years.” Batman replied.

“We have to help him.” Dick immediately insisted.

Roy furrowed his brows in thought and asked, “How?”

“I, don’t know but we have to do something. We can’t just leave him there.” Dick responded, looking over at the archer.

“He can jump into me.” Rose volunteered, getting everyone’s attention. Seeing that, she added, “He needs a body, and since we don’t have one, he’s going to have to jump into someone else. He can jump into me. He’s my brother after all.”

Batman was silent for a minute, then said, “That’s not that bad of an idea. At least until we find a better solution.”

“However, we still have to find him and get him in a spot where we can get Jericho to hear us and jump into Rose without Slade trying to kill us.” Jason quickly pointed out.

“That shouldn’t be too hard.” Wally chimed in. “Adeline told Batman where Slade is, so we have his location. And if we all attack him, we should be able to easily defeat him. He may be a highly trained assassin but he can’t fight us all at once.”

“‘All’? You want to come?” Dick questioned, turning his gaze to the speedster.

Wally looked shocked that he actually asked that and said, “Of course I’m coming. You think I’m going to let you go without me?”

“I’m coming too.” Roy joined in.

“Same here.” Gar said.

“So will I.” Rachel stepped up. Beside her, Kory took a step forward and said, “As well I.”

“And if Jericho’s going to jump into me, I kinda have to be there too.” Rose reminded the Titans’ leader.

“I’ll come too.” Donna said. “I’ve been wanting to punch Slade for quite a while now.”

Hank took a step forward and said, “As long as you save some for me.” Beside him, Dawn nodded.

Dick felt his heart swell in his chest. He couldn’t help but feel touched that almost everyone in the room wanted come help him take down the assassin and save Jericho, but he tried to force it down. Just because they wanted to deal with Slade once and for all didn’t mean that they forgave him, or even really wanted anything to do with him. They just wanted justice for Garth and to save Jericho. That was it and he wasn’t going to hope there was anything more to it.

While everyone else had agreed to help, Conner and Jason stayed silent. Conner seemed confused by what was going on which made sense. Dick felt a bit bad for the clone being stuck in this situation and still not knowing what was all going on. Hopefully he’d be able to sit down with him and explain everything to him. And Jason, well Jason looked a bit nervous and unsure and Dick didn’t blame him. His time as Slade’s prisoner, though short, had majorly freaked him out. Dick wouldn’t be upset at all or blame him if Jason wanted to sit this one out.

However, Jason took a deep breath and said, “I’m coming too.”

“Can I?” Conner immediately asked before Dick could respond to Jason’s bravery.

“You all sure about this?” Dick couldn’t help but wonder. Though there might be a lot of them, Slade was a formidable enemy and was not to be underestimated. It was going to be dangerous.

“Yes, we are.” Roy answered and the others all nodded in agreement.

Seeing that, Batman said, “In that case, I think you can use this,” and pulled out a sleek-black, metal suitcase from behind him before adding, “I stopped by Stu and Lily’s on my way back.”

Dick stared at the case for a few seconds, then walked over and grabbed it. With it in hand, he walked over to the small coffee table. He placed the suitcase on top of it, then pressed his thumbs on the finger-print recognition locks. Hearing it unlock, he opened it up and looked inside. Feeling a hand land on his shoulder, he looked up to see that Bruce had come up behind him.

“Stu was rather upset about what you did to your old Robin uniform, but we agreed that it was time you had something different.” Dick could only grin in response, agreeing completely. He couldn’t wait to try it on.

**2018TITANS2018**

Dawn quickly put on her Dove uniform with ease once she and Hank had gotten to their room. The first time she had ever worn it, it had taken her half and hour to get it all on correctly. And Hank had helped her. With all the practice she had gotten over the years though, it was second nature.

Turning around, she expected to see Hank fully dressed as Hawk, but he only had his pants and boots on. The rest of his suit was laid out on the bed in front of him. He wasn’t putting them on either. He was just standing there, staring at top and wings. Dawn had seen him get all quiet and still like this only a few times, but each time, it meant that something serious was going on in his head.

“What’s wrong?” Dawn asked, moving to stand behind him, only a foot or two away.

Hank flinched slightly, clearly started out of his reverie, then reached for the remaining parts of his uniform as he said, “Nothing.”

“Hank.” Dawn said with a warning tone, telling him that she knew he was lying.

Before Hank could figure out a way to get his girlfriend to drop it, there was a knock on the door. By this point, he was fully dressed, just missing his wings, belt and mask, and hoping to distract Dawn, he shouted, “Come in.”

“Hey.” Donna said as she opened the door and came into the room. She was dressed in her Wonder Girl suit, lasso coiled up and attached to her hip. Looking over at them, she asked, “You guys ready?”

“Just about.” Hank answered, slipping on his belt.

“Good thing we were able to grab these before we came.” Donna told them, remembering how when Batman first showed up and drove Slade away, they quickly ran to grab their packed bags and bring them along. If they hadn’t, they would have absolutely no clothes to change into.

“No kidding.” Dawn agreed. However, looking at her friend’s face, she something strange in her eyes, like she was upset or scared of something. “Are you okay?”

Donna actually flinched a little at the question before she answered, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Dawn questioned.

“Yeah.” Donna did her best to assure the blonde. However, she cringed at the tone of her voice. She did not sound convincing at all.

All day she had been replaying Roy’s words, his threat, in her head. She knew that Roy didn’t make empty threats. If she didn’t tell the others about her lies about going back to Themyscria, he would. And if the way they reacted to Dick’s confession was any indication, they weren’t going to react well at all. Most likely, the only difference would be that Hank wouldn’t actually punch her in the face.

But she knew that they needed to know. Roy was right about that. As much as she tried to bury what happened, tried to forget, there were so many nights that she would lie awake thinking it over constantly. And it really wasn’t fair to make Dick take all the blame. She was so busy being angry at being forced to remember her own pain and guilt over Garth’s death that she didn’t see Dick’s pain. Now, it was all she could see whenever she closed her eyes. However, she couldn’t tell them right now. Right now, they had to focus on capturing Slade and freeing Jericho.

“You slow pokes ready?” A voice pulled the three original Titans’ attention to the open door where Wally, dressed in his red Flash uniform, was standing.

“Yup.” Hank answered as he finished putting his wings on, his goggles in his hand.

“Then let’s go.” Wally told them, his tone harsh and angry.

“Wait a second Wally.” Dawn said, taking a few steps towards him. When he looked over at her, she added, “I know that you, and Roy and Gar, are mad at us, but can we please put that to the side until we take down Slade?”

“Of course.” Wally responded, though his voice remained the same.

“Did Dick tell you everything?” Hank questioned, still mad at Dick and not understanding why Wally and Roy were mad at them and were siding with their leader.

“Yes he did.” Wally informed in. “He told me and Roy about how you guys all agreed to use Jericho to get to Slade. How Slade attacked Donna. How he tried to fight Slade and Jericho stepped in front of the sword for him and was stabbed. How he lied back then and decided to tell you all the truth and you guys yelled at him and punched him.”

“And you’re mad at us?” Hank demanded.

“Yes I am. You guys all decided to get Jericho involved and yet the minute it went wrong you all decided that it was Dick’s fault when you are all actually to blame. And you decided to pretend you had no responsibility to deal with this situation at all and I had to find Slade shoving a gun under Dick’s chin and pull the trigger!” Wally yelled.

Silence rang in the room at that. Neither Donna, Dawn or Hank knew how exactly Dick had gotten those cuts on his face, and they didn’t even think about it. They had just figured it was from a punch or something. But to hear that it was actually because Slade tried to shoot him and Dick just got lucky? That they could’ve come to the Tower to find Dick lying on the ground with his brains blown out? It was horrifying.

Wally let out a sigh and said, “Let’s just, let’s just go.”

Not saying another word, the speedster walked away, leaving the other three in their shocked silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’m hoping I will be able to have the next chapter finished in time for next week, but right now, I’m not making any promises. I hope you all liked this chapter and had/have a great holiday! See you all next time!


	10. Take Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! Warning, this chapter is a fight chapter, so I’m sorry in advance for how bad this might be. I tried my best, but I still suck at fighting scenes. Hope you all like it though!

Only an hour later, the Titans found themselves surrounding a large, two-story house in the middle of nowhere. Or more accurately, the middle of a forest near San Francisco. According to Adeline Wilson, this was where Slade was hiding out. And from the cameras and booby traps they had to avoid on the way here, it seemed she was right. Staring at the house, Dick felt his body try to shake in anticipation but he forced himself to stay still. Though he was nervous and worried about what all could happen, he was ready. So ready, to end this once and for all.

_“Wow. Being an assassin must pay very well_.” Gar said through the small earpieces they were all wearing.

_“The people who tend to hire assassin, tend to be extremely rich so yeah, it pays very well.”_ Jason responded.

_“Rich people suck.”_ Gar then commented.

_“Not all of them, but yeah most do.”_ Jason somewhat agreed. Dick inwardly sighed in relief when no one else spoke. They didn’t have time to be distracted by how much money Slade actually made as a hired killer. They needed to be focused on defeating said killer and rescuing his son.

Before they had left, Gar had been all serious and focused. Until of course he saw Wally and Roy in their Flash and Red Arrow uniforms. Then it became obvious that he was inwardly freaking out. He still tried to stay cool though which Dick appreciated. Now however, it seemed like he was starting to get distracted. Hopefully Kory would be able to keep his mind on the task at hand.

Right after they exited the zeta tube that took them to the outskirts of San Francisco, they all split up. It was easier and far more effective to capture a single person if they were surrounding them. Plus, if one group got in trouble, they would have back up at hand. And on the off chance that Slade managed to subdue all of them, they each had an emergency beacon that would alert the Watchtower directly. Should they ever use it, Bruce, who remained behind as he understood that they wanted to defeat Slade themselves, would immediately know something was wrong and come help.

They split up into groups of three. Kory, Rachel and Gar made one group. Hank, Dawn and Donna were another. Conner was with Jason and Rose. Hopefully with the clone, and the dog Krypto, there, the two troublemakers will be more focused and less likely to do something stupid. And Dick went with Wally and Roy. It might have been a little cowardly, but Dick didn’t feel very comfortable around the others right now, to the point he wasn’t sure if they would have his back and that would only mess with his head. He needed to be focused on taking down Slade and helping Jericho. And he only felt capable of that with Red Arrow and the Flash.

Of course there was a slight downside. They were relying heavily on stealth and Wally and Roy’s suits weren’t the best for that. Wally’s was bright red with gold linings. Roy’s was a little better. It was both red and black. While the black would help hide him in the shadows, the red was nearly as bright as Wally’s. Dick’s new suit was the darkest of them.

It was completely black with the exception of a blue bird emblem with its wings spread out to his shoulders before going around to his back. The armour was kevlar mixed with spandex which allowed him to move far more freely than his Robin suit ever did. Especially since it didn’t have the added weight of a cape. And instead of the bo, he had two escrima sticks, roughly the length of his forearm, that could electrify people. He didn’t know if they would be strong enough to take down Slade, but he had teammates to help with that, including one who could literally throw lightning.

Despite that, Dick, Wally and Roy would be the ones going first. Kory, Gar, and surprisingly, Donna and Rachel argued with that decision. They believed that since they had powers, they should be the ones to go first. Dick however knew his presence would definitely get Slade’s attention and keep it the longest. And Kory, Gar and Rachel didn’t have protective suits like he did. Well, neither did Conner but considering the fact he seemed to be as bulletproof as Superman, he didn’t need them. They didn’t have time to make them their own suits, so they grabbed some body armour that was lying around, but they weren’t as good as actual suits. Because of that, they reluctantly agreed to Dick’s plan.

“Anybody got eyes on Deathstroke?” Dick asked, hoping to get everyone’s attention back on the mission.

_“Yeah, he’s in the living room, by the window.”_ Hank answered, causing Dick to try looking more to the left where the window that was most likely in Hawk’s line of sight.

“What’s he doing?” Wally then inquired.

_“I think he’s trying to get himself drunk.”_ Hank replied, sounding both confused and amused.

“You think he knows we’re here?” Roy questioned. Normally when a person knew they were about to be attacked, they wouldn’t be sitting around drinking, but Slade wasn’t normal.

“No clue, but the longer we stay around doing nothing, the more likely he’ll figure it out.” Dick responded. Pulling his escrima sticks out of their holders on his back, he asked, “So, are we ready?”

Everyone said ‘yes’ and Dick reached into a pocket in his belt and pulled out a small, black device with a single button. Staring up at the house, he pressed his thumb down on the button and watch as the lights shut off, making the house dark. Though he wasn’t inside, the vigilante knew that anything and everything electrical was now off. Even if Slade had a back up generator, it wouldn’t work. Slade was literally and figuratively in the dark.

“Okay, go.” Dick whispered to Wally, who nodded and vanished as he ran into the house. His job was to do a quick search of the house to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them.

Within seconds, the speedster was back as though he never left. Looking at Dick, he said, “All clear.”

“Let’s move.” Dick ordered and the three stalked into the house as silently as they could.

Wally led the way. Because of his search only moments ago, he knew exactly where Slade was. They all stuck close the walls in the hall, hiding as best as they could in the shadows. They paused however when a knife went flying right past Wally’s head before sticking into the behind him.

_He knows_ , Dick immediately realized, fear starting to sink into his body. He knew that Slade would almost instantly figure out that someone was breaking into his home, but he hoped they’d get to him before he was able to react. They would have to improvise. Dick gave Wally a nod and received a nod back. After growing up together and partnering up on several missions, they were able to communicate with only expressions. Not as well as Dick and Bruce could, but well enough. Without a word, Wally sped ahead of the bird and archer. Dick and Roy waited until they heard a thump before heading into the room Slade was apparently in.

Entering the room, Dick saw Slade getting up, having apparently been pushed to the floor, sword and knife in his hands. Apparently they were as sneaky as they thought they would. Or Slade was just one of those men prepared for everything. Maybe both. Both actually sounded like Slade.

Dick expected Wally to still be there, keeping him down or something. But he wasn’t in sight. There was however, blood on the knife that Slade was holding and Dick’s vision started to turn as red as the blood dripping from the metal blade. He was about to run at the man but Roy was already moving. Slade threw the knife at him though, forcing Roy to duck and Slade turned his attention to Dick,

“You.” Slade hissed, gripping his sword tightly in his hands, murder in his eyes.

Instead of letting any fear he might have show, Dick smirked and said, “Me.”

Slade immediately charged at him, bringing his sword down to hit Dick’s shoulder. Dick however brought up one of his escrima sticks and blocked the blow. At the same time, he slammed his other escrima stick into the mercenary’s side and pressed the button, letting electricity flow through Slade’s body. He only did it for a minute though. He didn’t know how much Jericho could feel and he didn’t want to him. He had hurt him enough.

Pulling his weapon away, Dick watched Slade stumble back a little, clearly feeling the effects of the electricity. Slade shook it off far more quickly and moved to attack again, but at Wally suddenly ran past him, kicking a leg out and causing Slade to fall to a knee. And before Slade could react, an arrow flew through the air and landed in the floor before it caused a loud bang, disorientating the man. Dick glanced behind him and saw Roy loading another arrow into his bow. The sight of his two best friends covering his back brought a small smile onto his face before he turned his attention back to Slade.

Slade however, recovered far quicker than Dick could’ve predicted. He had reached over to the nearest cabinet, opened the drawer and was pulling something out. Before Dick could move, he threw the device on the ground, causing a loud bang and smoke to immediately fill the room.

Coughing, Dick crouched down to try and see where Slade was now as the smoke began to rise. During that time though, Slade had managed to get over to him and went to kick him right in the head. Dick barely had time duck and twist out of the way. While he missed the kicked, Slade attempted to stab him with his sword at the same time. Since Dick moved though, the sword just made a shallow, yet painful, gash right about his left hip.

With a groan, Dick turned on one of his escrima sticks and slammed it into Slade’s ankle. Slade let out a surprised shout but then, Dick pulled his weapon away, grabbed the assassin’s leg and pulled, causing him to fall flat on his back. He then started to get back up to his feet, biting back the pain in his side, but at the same time, Slade was also standing up. Dick was really starting to hate the man’s super endurance and healing abilities. If he was a normal human, this would be so much easier.

“Dick!” The former Robin heard Rachel’s voice shout. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he instinctively ducked down. It was a good thing he did because only a second later, something black shot over him and hit Slade square in the chest, pushing him back several feet.

Glancing over his shoulder, Dick saw Rachel, Kory and Gar spill out from the hallway, followed immediately by Hank, Dawn, Donna, Jason, Rose and Conner. While he, Wally and Roy were to try and take down Slade, they were supposed to be taking care of the exits, weapons and any means of escape Slade might have. After everything, the last thing anyone wanted was Slade to slip right threw their fingers. Hoping that they weren’t going to do anything stupid, Dick turned his attention back to Slade who was again, starting to get back, clearly not anywhere close to surrendering. Not that Dick really expected him to.

“Jericho.” Dick called out causing Slade to freeze. Taking a small step closer to the assassin, he added, “I know you’re in there Jericho.”

Slade charged right at him as he yelled, “Don’t talk to him! You don’t have the right to talk to him!”

Dick moved to the side just as something that looked a lot like laser beams shot through the air at Slade, forcing him to stop and get out of the way. Dick went to go attack him, hoping to keep his attention on him instead of the others. Before he could take a step though, Slade threw another smoke grenade down, forcing everyone back.

Dick took a few steps backward so his back was against the wall. A slightly dangerous move but at least his enemy wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him. And he didn’t. Slade came straight at him, sword at the ready, aiming straight for his heart.

“Jericho, we need you to fight him.” Dick said, ducking from Slade’s sword.

“Stop talking to him!” Slade shouted, swinging his sword at Dick’s neck in an almost clumsy attempt to cut his head off. The vigilante easily moved out of the way and slammed his escrima stick against the assassin’s leg.

“We can help you Jericho. Please let us help you.” Dick continued, stepping back slightly to give Slade a movement to recover. As much as he wanted to beat the h*ll out of Slade, he was still trying to keep from hurting Jericho.

Slade practically growled at him, clearly furious, but his eye was clouded. Oh yes, Jericho was obviously still in there and was trying to take cover his father’s body. And with the way Slade was trying to force him back, Dick was fairly confident that Jericho wanted their help. That he was on their side, even though they didn’t deserve it.

Slade was still the main one in control though and he was now currently getting back up. Dick held on to his escrima sticks tightly, ready to fight, although it wasn’t needed. Donna swung out her golden lasso, the end wrapping around Slade’s neck like a noose, then pulled it taunt. The criminal twisted his body and brought up his sword, trying to cut the magical rope. Seeing that, Hank lunged forward and kicked the weapon out of his hand. Not wanting to risk Slade getting free, Dick pulled out a syringe filled with a sedative and injected it into his neck. In less than a minute, Slade fell to the floor, completely unconscious.

“Dick?” Rachel’s worried voice called out.

Standing up straight, biting back a wince as the movement pulled at his injury, he looked at his teammates and said, “We got him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing a fight scene is hard for me. Writing one that has multiple people fighting one person and trying to include them all is way worse. I hope it all made sense and that you guys like it though. See you all next time!


	11. Back-Up Plan

10 minutes after defeating Deathstroke, Dick was stood in front of the one-way mirror that allowed him to see Slade in the Watchtower’s interrogation room. He was sitting in a chair, his hands chained to the table in front of him and his feet to the floor with specially made cuffs for criminals with abilities. Though Slade wasn’t actually able to see him, he was staring right in Dick’s direction, appearing way too calm for someone who was just arrested by superheroes. It was extremely unnerving.

The former Robin wished he could tell what was going on in Slade’s head. He knew that the only reason why someone would be so calm when they were arrested would be if they had something planned. And Slade was definitely the kind of guy who would have a backup plan and Dick wanted to know what it was. Did he have a weapon hidden on him? Did he and Rose have something planned? Was she still working with him? Dick didn’t know and it was filling him with anxiety.

Hearing voices, Dick looked over at his right and saw Kory, Rachel, Gar, Jason, Rose, Donna, Hank, Dawn, Wally, Roy, Conner and Krypto coming his way. While he and Batman brought Slade to the Watchtower’s small ‘detention’ wing, they had all gone to clean up and change. Now, only Dick remained in his uniform. And probably Bruce as he hardly ever took off his Batman suit when at the Watchtower. There were still some members of the Justice League who had no idea that Bruce Wayne was Batman, despite how many years had passed since they formed the League.

“He still out?” Roy wondered, coming to stand by Dick.

“Nope. He’s up and is just sitting quietly.” Dick replied as the others all crowded around.

“That’s not creepy at all.” Wally commented sarcastically.

“No kidding.” Dick agreed.

Donna glared through the window at Garth’s killer before asking, “Where’s Batman?”

“Looking into what prison we should lock Slade up in once we get Jericho out.” Dick answered. “There’s not many options due to his enhanced strength, endurance and all his other abilities but we want to make sure that he won’t be able to escape.”

“Not escaping would be great.” Dawn said. Beside her, Hank scoffed slightly and muttered, “Dead would be better.”

Dick, and everyone else, ignored him. There had been a few times where he and Hank discussed the morality and plain practicality of killing some of the criminals they went up against. It never really ended well though. While Dick did agree that it would be better if some criminals, like the Joker, were out of the picture, he definitely didn’t think they had the right to make that decision. Of course, he didn’t fully realize that until after Tony Zucco’s death. Even though he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, he still played a part in the man’s death and that weighed on him more than he ever thought it would.

Suddenly, Dick felt a hand press against the shallow gash on his left side that he had been ignoring. Wincing, he tried to pull away and realized that it was Rachel who had touched his injury. She gave him a sheepish look but moved again to place her palm against the cut. This time, he let her. Within seconds, Dick felt the somewhat dull pain disappear as the injury completely vanished from his body.

“Thanks.” Dick said with a small smile.

“You’re welcome.” Rachel responded, smiling back in return.

Dick then turned his attention over to Rose and asked, “You ready to do this?”

Rose glanced at the leader of the Titans, then looked through the window at Slade. Her father was staring back and though she knew he couldn’t see them, it felt like his gaze was locked right on her. This would be the first time she actually met with him face to face since she ran from him and was found by Dick. He was restrained, but she knew his strength. Would he be so mad that he’d be able to break free and try and kill her or something?

“You okay?” Dick questioned with a worried tone. “You want one of us to come in with you?”

“No, no it’s fine. I’ll be fine.” Rose told him, taking a deep breath to brace herself. She took a step towards the door and reached for the handle, then paused. Looking back at the group that she was really starting to consider her friends, her family, and said, “If something goes wrong,”

“We got your back.” Dick responded. Behind him, the others nodded in agreement. With that knowledge in mind, Rose opened the door and walked into the room where Slade was waiting.

“This is going to work, right?” Jason couldn’t help but ask, growing extremely uneasy at the sight of Rose all alone with the monster that was her father.

Dick was just as worried Jason, but instead of voicing that, he said, “I hope so.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Slade turned his head to look at Rose as she closed the door behind her and she paused ever so slightly. She feel the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up. It was like he was threatening her even though he was tied up and hadn’t said a word. She was seriously wondering if Slade was actually furious enough to try and kill her. And if he was, would the others be able to get inside and stop him in time?

“Hello father.” Rose said, forcing herself to walk over to the empty chair on the opposite side of the table where the assassin was sitting.

He said nothing though. He simply stared right at her; his expression completely poker-faced. Not for the first time, she tried to think of what was going on in his brain. There were hardly any times she knew what he was thinking, or feeling. During the last three years, he’d hardly talk about anything personal. At the beginning she tried to ask, but he would never really answer so she stopped. It wasn’t until he found out that the Titans had returned that she truly started seeing the kind of man he was underneath his calm composure. Now, it was back and it was even more unnerving than before.

“I have nothing to say to you.” Slade broke the silence after a few minutes.

“That’s okay.” Rose responded, a smirk coming upon her face. “It’s not you I’m here for.”

Rose could see the second her father understood the meaning of her words, but she ignored him and said in a gentle tone, “Jericho, I need you to jump into me.”

She could see the fury cover her father’s face and it looked like he was trying to move his head but didn’t. No, he couldn’t. Something, someone was forcing him to stay still.

All of a sudden, she felt a slight breeze and became aware of another presence in her head. Another voice. One that wasn’t her own.

_‘Hi Rose.’_ The voice said. _‘I’m Jericho. It’s nice to finally meet you.’_

The image of a teen boy with chocolate brown eyes, curly dark hair and a smile on his face appeared in her head. Smiling back, both outwardly and inwardly, Rose said, _‘Nice to meet you too. Sorry it took so long.’_

_‘That’s okay.’_ Jericho replied. Before Rose could respond, she heard a loud clanging noise and was brought back to what was going on around her.

Slade had brought his fists down on the table hard, creating the noise and was now pulling against the chains, trying to get free. Rose instinctively backed away slightly, but Slade didn’t move again. He simply stared at her with his one eye and said, “You think you’ll be safe with Grayson and his little team? You won’t be. They’ll simply use you both until you two die. Then they’ll move on as if you never existed.”

“Maybe.” Rose said, then leaned closer and added, “But Jericho and I would both rather be with them than you.”

Without another word, she stood up and walked towards the door. Slade didn’t try to stop her.

**2018TITANS2018**

Dick and the others watched everything in complete silence. They could see and hear everything going on in the room in front of them and their entire focus was on that. Waiting for Rose to get Jericho. Watching any and every move Slade made. While the cuffs restraining him should be strong enough to hold him, there was always a chance that he might break free and attack. And Dick wasn’t going to let anything happen to Rose. Not if he could help it.

The police detective knew immediately when Jericho had jumped into Rose. He had only seen Jericho do it twice five years ago, but if you were looking for it, it wasn’t an easy thing to miss. The almost invisible breeze, the stiffening up of the person the young man was jumping in to. What gave it away the most though was the way Slade reacted. How he immediately started struggling, trying to get at Rose. Thankfully though, the chains held him firm and he stopped to spout out insults. Rose seemed to ignore them though and stood up to make her way out of the room.

“I’m going to go change, and inform Batman that we got Jericho so we can start prepping to move Slade to a secure prison.” Dick told the others before Rose even reached the door and started walking away.

“Dick.” Dawn said, reaching out a hand to grab his arm but he sidestepped a little out of the way and kept walking. He could feel the others’ gaze on him as he walked but no one else tried to stop him and he didn’t turn around.

He walked straight to his room, leaning his back against the door as he closed it, feeling a wave of relief and shock. They did it. They got Slade, got Jericho and no one was hurt or killed. It was over. It was all over.

Now though, Dick didn’t really know what to do. Because he had been doing his best to avoid his former teammates, he wasn’t sure what their plans were once Slade was arrested. If they even had plans. He assumed that Dawn and Hank would be going back to Wyoming and that Donna and Rachel would head back to San Francisco and Jason would go back to Gotham with Bruce, but he didn’t know for sure. And he had absolutely had no clue what would happen with Rose. He also had no idea what to do with Gar and Conner. They couldn’t go back to the Tower, not with it being compromised. Maybe they should just stay here for now and figure the rest out later.

Dick lifted a hand to wipe his forehead, suddenly realizing he was sweating, and started to head over to the dresser where his clothes were. He only took a step forward before he stopped and winced. His left side was throbbing, even though Rachel had healed it. Looking down, he saw that his skin was completely smooth. He couldn’t even tell that he had been injured at all. Maybe the pain was just because it wasn’t healed all the way on the inside or something.

Deciding to ignore it, he continued heading to the dresser. This time, he could only take three steps before the pain came back with a vengeance. Suddenly the room started to spin. Dick hardly ever lost his balance, but he did almost immediately. His legs crumbled under him and he fell to the floor. He was unconscious before he landed.

**2018TITANS2018**

The group of heroes watched as Dick walked away, each of them wondering if they should go after him, but their attention was pulled back to the door when they heard it open. Rose came out slowly, looking a little unsure and unsteady. It was possible that she was just a little shaken up from what Slade had said, but there was something strange in her eyes.

“Jericho?” Donna hesitantly asked.

Rose looked up with a smirk and, with both her hands and mouth, said, “What’s up a**holes?” Immediately, everyone started laughing. Even Rachel, Gar, Jason, Wally and Roy despite not knowing Jericho. Conner however just looked a little confused and stayed silent, though he did smile, sensing that everyone was happy.

“It’s so good to see you.” Dawn said, giving Rose/Jericho a hug, unable to help herself. Rose tensed slightly but almost immediately returned the embrace.

“We’re so sorry, about everything.” Donna apologized, putting a hand on their shoulder.

“It’s okay. I know why you did it, and I don’t blame you. Any of you. It’s not your fault.” Rose/Jericho told them, pulling away from Dawn’s arms.

“That’s creepy.” Hank suddenly commented.

“Well, it’s not like we have a spare body around to put Jericho in.” Dawn told him with a slight eye-roll.

“No, not that. Slade.” Hank responded, gesturing with his head towards the window. “Even though he’s arrested and Jericho’s no longer in his head, he still kinda looks like he won.”

“That is a little weird.” Roy agreed, seeing the calm yet satisfied expression on the assassin’s face. It made no sense that he would look like that. They just arrested him and got his son away from him. What was there to be happy about?

“Rose?” Jason voice draw the archer’s, and everyone else’s, attention back to Slade’s daughter/son. She was looking down at the ground but it was clear she wasn’t actually focusing on that. She was completely lost in her head. Was she talking to Jericho?

“Rose?” Jason tried again, taking a step forward. When she still didn’t respond, he said, “Jericho?” At that, her eye looked up at them.

“Where’s Dick?” She asked, looking up at them with a panicked tone, confusing everyone.

“Um, he went to go change and then report to Batman.” Wally answered, now starting to get a little worried about why she was asking about his best friend. Before he could ask why, Rose took off running down the hall.

“Rose!” Jason called out as he ran after her, the others right on his heel. Wally however, being a speedster, ran right past them to Dick’s room, now completely freaking out.

By the time they reached the room, they found the door wide open and looked inside. There, on the floor in the middle of the room, was Dick. He was still in his Nightwing uniform and seemed to be completely unconscious. Wally was down on his knees beside him, shaking his arm, but Dick wasn’t responding in any way.

Lifting his head to look at them, a terrified expression on his face, Wally said, “He won’t wake up.”


	12. Poisoned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve started working on a Batman fic where Owlman from Forever Evil shows up and kidnaps Dick and have gotten to wondering, how cool would it be if that comic storyline happened in the show? Does anyone else think that would be cool? Just me? Oh well, just something to think about. Hope you all like this chapter!

Donna stood in front of the large window, looking into the room where Dick currently was lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by medical equipment. After finding Dick unconscious on the floor, they had quickly brought him to the infirmary and got Batman and Dr. Mid-Nite. It was then Rose told them what Jericho had showed her. Slade had poisoned his sword and when he cut Dick, the poison got into his bloodstream. Rachel then tried to use her powers to cure him, but it didn’t work. Now, there was nothing to do but keep an eye on the former Robin while Batman, Dr. Mid-Nite and Wally tried to identify the poison since Jericho had no idea what it was. He was able to tell them where Slade kept it though, so Wally rushed off to get it.

It had been over two hours now and they hadn’t found anything. To make matters worse, Dick hadn’t woken up at all yet either. He had a fever 102.3 last Donna heard and his breathing was getting weaker. It was terrifying, and not just to her. Rachel, Gar, Kory, Conner and Roy were in the room with him. Jason was with Bruce, Rose/Jericho and Wally, and Hank and Dawn had gone to the kitchen for something to eat for all of them.

“Hey.” Dawn’s voice pulled Donna’s gaze away from the window to the right where she saw Dawn and Hank coming towards her. In Hank’s hand was what appeared to be a picnic basket.

“What’s with the basket?” Donna asked as they reached her.

“Easier to bring all the food for everyone.” Hank explained. Donna in acknowledgement then turned back to face the window.

“Any change?” Dawn questioned, coming to stand beside Donna, also looking through the window at Dick’s unconscious form.

“Besides his fever rising a bit, nothing.” Donna answered.

“Any word on a cure?” Hank wondered. After two hours, Bruce had to have figured out something. The man was able to create antidotes to the drugs those psycho criminals in Gotham use. He should surely be able to come up with a cure to whatever poison Slade used on Dick.

“Bruce and Wally are still working on it. I think Jason and Rose are with them, but I don’t know it they’ve even figured out poison Slade used.” The photographer told them with a frustrated tone, which wasn’t at all surprising.

When they realized that they had no idea what the poison was, they first thought they should interrogate Slade and find out from him how to save Dick. But Batman quickly pointed that Slade wanted Dick dead. He wouldn’t tell them, even if they tortured him. They had no leverage over him, had nothing he wanted or were willing to make any deal with him. Slade probably wouldn’t take a deal anyways. No one had gone to see him since they got Jericho out, but nobody had any doubt that Slade was fully aware of what was going on since he knew that he had cut Dick.

“Isn’t there anything else we can do?” Dawn inquired. Though they had known Dick for years, had been teammates, she had never seen her ex-boyfriend like this. She hated it.

“The only thing that I can think of is going down to where Slade is being held and beating the crap out of him until he tells us what we want to know.” Donna responded through clenched teeth.

“Let me know if and when you decide to do that. I’ll join you.” Hank said before moving to the door and walked into the room.

Dawn watched him for a minute, then put a hand on Donna’s shoulder and asked, “You okay?”

“I will be when Dick is.” Donna answered, keeping her eyes on the figure lying in the hospital bed. She felt Dawn move her hand to rub her back for a minute, then pull it away. From the corner of her eye, she saw the blonde enter the room, but her focus remained solely on Dick. Her little brother. Her little brother who was dying and there was nothing she could do about it.

**2018TITANS2018**

Bruce glared at the screen in front of him. For the last several hours, he had been running test after test on the blood sample he had taken from Dick, trying to identify what poison Slade had used but he couldn’t find anything. When Jericho was able to show Rose his memories of Slade poisoning his sword, and where he kept the poison, he sent Wally to go get it. He had hoped with a bigger, purer, sample, he’d be able to finally find a match on one of the several databases there were on poisons all over the world. However, there was nothing. Jericho also had no memory of when Slade bought the poison or where he got it from. Even though he was in Slade’s head, the assassin was able to hide from him what the poison was. They had nothing. It made Bruce want to punch a hole in the screen.

He had been so busy focusing on finding the cure to save his son, that he hadn’t even gone to see him except for when he took the blood sample. Dick looked awful. And that was hours ago. He had been getting updates from Dr. Mid-Nite, but none of them were good. Dick was getting worse, and he would keep getting worse until Bruce found an antidote or was able to create one. As much as Bruce wanted to be by Dick’s side, especially if the worse did happen, he forced himself to keep working. He was of no use to Dick just sitting there watching him die. No, he wasn’t going to let that happen. He had to find a way to save his son.

“Anything?” Wally asked as he walked into the room, panting a little. After running to Slade’s home to get the bottle of apparent poison and back, there wasn’t much to do. He went to check on Dick, but there were so many people there already and sitting still always drove him nuts. So he went running on Barry’s old treadmill. He was now a little tired, and hungry.

“Not yet. Whatever poison Slade used, it’s not any official database.” Bruce answered, keeping his eyes on the computer.

“And Jericho doesn’t know what it is?” Wally questioned, his gaze moving to where Jason and Rose/Jericho were sitting. If it wasn’t for the two cups and two empty plates, Wally would’ve thought they hadn’t moved at all in the last few hours.

“No. He hadn’t even seen it until Slade pulled it out to put it on his sword.” Rose responded, refusing to call the assassin her father. She had already decided she wanted nothing to do with the man, but after seeing with her own eyes everything that he had done to Jericho, what he wanted to do to her friends, hate wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how she felt about the man. And she refused to refer to him as her father.

“Sh*t.” Wally hissed under his breath, sinking into the chair closest to him.

Jason stared at the current Flash. He hadn’t met Wally until they arrived at the Watchtower almost two days ago. He knew who he was, and that Barry Allen was the original Flash, but since he hadn’t been Robin very long and there weren’t any missions or team ups that they were both on, their paths never crossed. Because of that, he didn’t know that Wally and Dick were apparently so close. Then again, Jason didn’t know much of Dick’s personal life. Bruce and Alfred didn’t talk about him much and whenever they did, they seemed sad, making it clear that they missed him. It made Jason wonder exactly what all occurred when Dick left Gotham.

When Jason went to San Francisco with Gar, Rachel and Dick, he thought it would a chance to get to really know his predecessor. To learn from him. During those three months, Dick did teach him and the others a lot. However, he didn’t really become close with Dick. He had tried, they had all tried and though there had been some success, Dick was surprisingly guarded. Alfred had mentioned at one point that Dick was a very outgoing person and, when he wanted to be, could be extremely charming and make friends with anyone, but it was clear that had changed. He had started thinking that maybe they just needed more time to get comfortable around each other or something.

The last several days however made him question if it was actually because of what all happened five years ago. Garth, an apparent close friend of Dick’s, had died and his other three friends had walked out on him. Having just Rachel, Hank, Dawn and Donna turned against and blame him for stupid crap that he didn’t do only days ago and hurt enough to drive him up to the roof. And he didn’t even know these people for very long. How much did it hurt Dick, who had been friends with them for years, to watch them practically walk out of his life after blaming him for something Slade did? No wonder he seemed so closed off and cautious of letting anyone close to him. Then, they all did it again.

Now he was dying. No one was sure if they were going to be able to save him. And even if they did, would Dick still want anything to do with them after all the pain they caused? Had they all ruined everything?

“How’s Dick doing?” Jason finally asked, knowing that Wally had gone to check on the first Robin earlier.

“Not good. He needs the cure, otherwise…” Wally broke off, staring down at the ground. Jason felt his heart plummet even though he knew already what would happen if they couldn’t find antidote to the poison, Dick would die. Yet it was becoming more and more real and it was scaring him.

Jason looked over at Bruce and saw that his mentor had become even more tense than he was before. Though Bruce was terrible at showing or talking about his emotions, any one who was able to get to know the billionaire would be able to see that he was just as worried and terrified as Jason and Wally were. Whatever issues Bruce and Dick had, it was clear Bruce still loved his first son and Jason didn’t want to know what could happen if Bruce lost him for good. And honestly, despite his own mixed feelings about Dick, Jason didn’t want to lose him either.

**2018TITANS2018**

A steady beeping pulled Dick out of the black fog of nothing. Almost instantly, became aware of how sore he was. It was like when you over did it during work outs, and were then run over by a semi-truck. And then there was the heat. He felt like he was boiling. There had been a time when he was Robin and he and Batman had a mission that led them to a desert during its hottest season. This was worse than that. He wanted to go back to sleep, back to the darkness he was in before, but then he started hearing voices. Someone was around. Maybe they could help him.

Very slowly, Dick opened his eyes, before squeezing them closed only a second later. Not only was keeping them open a lot more work than he thought it should be, the lights were way too bright. It felt like he had been looking straight into the sun. Maybe he had been. He had no idea where he was or what was going on. All he did know was that he was hot, tired and extremely sore. He wanted to go back to sleep.

However, he suddenly heard a gentle and familiar voice say, “Dick? You awake?”

Turning his head to the side, Dick was barely able to make out Roy and Rachel sitting on the chairs beside him. Confused, he blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision, then looked around the whole room. He was surprised, and puzzled, to see that the room he was in was almost completely filled with people. Gar was sitting on his bed by his feet. Hank, Dawn and Conner were sitting on chairs around the end of the hospital bed. Donna stood by the door and Kory sat in a chair on his other side. All of them looked worried and anxious.

“How are you feeling?” Roy asked, drawing Dick’s attention back to him. Even though he spoke quietly, it sounded loud to his sensitive ears as his head pounded furiously in his skull.

“‘rsty.” Dick croaked. His throat felt like sandpaper and just saying that one word hurt.

At first, he wasn’t sure if Roy understood him, he barely understood himself, but in between a long blink, there was a cup with a straw held out in front of him. Dick tried to lift his head, tried to push himself up, but quickly he realized he didn’t have any strength at all to do that. Apparently sensing that, Roy’s hand slid under his head, lifted him up and moved the cup closer so the straw hit Dick’s lips.

After downing a few sips, Dick pulled away and Roy lowered his head back down on the pillow. Looking up at the archer, Dick mumbled, “Wha’s going on?”

Roy looked over his shoulder at the others for a few seconds, then back to Dick. It was quite clear to the archer that his friend wasn’t really with it. That wasn’t surprising given how high his fever was, but it made him wonder how much he really understood. Was there really a point in telling Dick what was happening? Would it just make him confused and cause him to panic, or would not knowing make him panic?

“Um, well, Dick, Slade had apparently poisoned his sword. And when he cut you, it got into your system.” Roy tried to explain, bringing a hand up to run his hand through Dick’s hair.

Dick stared up at Roy through squinted eyes. The lights were blinding him. He tried to pay attention to his friend, but his words sounded all muffled. His head was also pounding and he felt like he was boiling. The only thing he heard Roy say clearly, was the word _poison_.

“Poi’ned?” He mumbled, his eyes closing. Keeping them open was too hard, and the light hurt too much.

“Yeah.” Dick heard Roy confirm and tried to nod, but wasn’t sure if he succeeded. He was so tired. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

But then he felt something wet and cold drape across his forehead and he moaned. The cold felt so good on his burning skin yet at the same time, caused his body to shiver. Then, smaller fingers pressed against his cheek.

“Dick?” Another voice, Rachel, whispered. As much as Dick wanted to go back to sleep, she sounded so worried and he didn’t like it. So he forced his eyes open again.

Rachel was staring down at him, looking terrified. He wanted to reach out and grab her hand, or pull her into a hug, but he couldn’t. His limbs felt like they were weighed down by bricks. He was only able stare at her for a few seconds before his eyes drifted close again. Dimly, he could hear her say something, but he had no idea what. He tried to open his eyes again, but he had no strength left to do so and he sunk back into the darkness.

**2018TITANS2018**

“Dick? No Dick, stay awake.” Rachel begged when she saw Dick’s eyelids shut. He didn’t open them though like he did before. She grabbed his arm and started shaking him, trying to get him to wake up, but he didn’t.

“Rachel, stop.” Kory told her, putting a hand on the teenager’s shoulder. “Let him sleep.”

Turning to face her, Rachel asked, “What if he doesn’t wake up again?”

Kory felt her heart stutter in her chest a little at the question and she glanced over at Dick. Despite the rising fever, he looked so pale. There were dark smudges under his eyes that seemed to be growing every few minutes and there were times his chest hardly moved when he breathed that if wasn’t for the sound of the heart monitor, she would’ve thought that he died already. And when he woke up, inside of helping assure her that he was okay, it only worried her more. The distant and confused look in his normally beautiful brown eyes made her question if he understood what was all happening.

She hated seeing Dick like this. It was clear everyone hated it. It was beyond infuriating and terrifying knowing that their leader, their friend, was dying right in front of them and there wasn’t anything they could do about it. So far, it didn’t seem like Bruce or the others had found a cure yet and the more time that passed, the more scared she was getting. The redhead wondered if it was possible the poison would just naturally pass out of Dick’s system given enough time. Though she only met Dick a few months ago, and they had actually gone three months without talking, she couldn’t imagine losing him.

“He’ll be okay Rachel.” Roy chimed in when Kory didn’t say anything.

The dark-haired girl turned her gaze to him and said, “How can you be sure?”

“Well one, Dick has survived worse than this. He might be human, but he’s tougher than some of the heroes with actual powers.” Roy replied with a proud grin, then continued, “And two, Bruce isn’t called ‘the World’s Greatest Detective’ for nothing. He’ll find the cure. He’s not going to let Dick die.”


	13. Darkening Night

As the hours continued to pass, the Titans began to start dozing off. They remained in Dick’s room, watching over him but nothing seemed to be happening. There had been no updates from Bruce on a cure and Dick was hardly responding to anything. Dr. Mid-Nite, and occasionally Kory and Rachel would wake him but he would only moan and blink his eyes, then fall back asleep. And despite Kory constantly laying freezing cold clothes over his forehead, Dick’s fever continued to rise.

The sound of the door opening drew Kory’s attention to it, but when she saw it was just Dr. Mid-Nite, she turned back to Dick. He had been coming and going so often that he no longer disturbed Hank, Dawn, Gar and Conner who had actually managed to fall asleep in their chairs. Donna and Roy, who were about to do the same, glanced up at him but didn’t say anything. Neither did Kory or Rachel, who were still wide awake and keeping a close eye on the Titans’ leader.

Dr. Mid-Nite gave them a small smile in greeting then walked over to Dick’s side. Rachel obligingly pushed herself and her chair out of the way, though she didn’t look happy about it. Checking the monitors, the doctor/superhero frowned. Despite all their attempts, Dick’s fever was still rising and was getting dangerously high levels. He would do all he could, but he wasn’t sure how much longer Dick would be able to hold out.

Deciding it would be best to give his patient some more Tylenol to help combat his fever, the doctor started shaking Dick’s shoulder to wake him up. There were really only two ways to give someone Tylenol as there wasn’t an IV form of it. He had managed to get Dick to swallow some earlier and he really hoped he’d be able to do it again. He was positive that Dick wouldn’t like having to do it the other way, even if he was unconscious. However, Dick didn’t respond to the shaking at all. Dr. Mid-Nite moved to rub his fist against the younger man’s sternum, and that got a twitch from him, but nothing else.

“What’s going on?” Rachel fearfully asked, loud enough that it woke up those were who sleeping.

“He’s not waking up.” Dr. Mid-Nite answered looking up at them, doing his best to keep his fear off his face. “At all.”

However, his words had all of them panicking. They all got to their feet and came closer to the bed. Rachel, who was already there, grabbed his hand and quietly said, “Dick?”

Dick didn’t respond to Rachel either, or the growing noise as everyone started moving to see what was going on. Dr. Mid-Nite tried again to wake him with pressure to his sternum, but then, a machine behind him started blaring. Looking over at the monitors to see what was going on, Dr. Mid-Nite’s eyes widened in shock.

“What’s that?” Kory asked worriedly.

“His temperature is spiking.” Dr. Mid-Nite told her, looking over the monitors. When he saw what screens were saying, he yelled out to no one in particular, “I need ice, now!”

“I can make ice.” Conner quickly informed him, taking a step closer to the doctor.

“Then come with me, now!” Dr. Mid-Nite ordered and rushed out of the room. Conner, though a little stunned, followed right behind him.

The others watched them leave then surrounded the bed. They knew that Dick was getting worse, but due to their exhaustion and dozing off, they hadn’t seen how bad he had truly gotten. His cheeks were bright red as was his neck, but the rest of his body was pale. His hair was completely soaked with sweat. Same with his clothes. Even the thin sheet covering him looked like it was starting to get damp. And his breathing had gotten shallower and more raspy.

“Hold on Dick.” Rachel pleaded, squeezing his hand so tight that she wondered if she was hurting him. If she was, he didn’t react at all.

Minutes later, the door opened again as the doctor and clone came back into the room. In the doctor’s arms, was a large, plastic, zip-lock bag completely filled with chunks of ice. Behind him, Conner was carrying at least ten more. As they came over to the bed, Roy stated, “That’s a lot.”

“Lift him up.” Dr. Mid-Nite told them, holding out one of the bags, ignoring Roy. Hank quickly stepped closer and carefully lifted Dick up into a sitting position. Once he was up, Dr. Mid-Nite placed the bag on the mattress then helped Hank lay Dick back down on top of the ice. As soon as he was down, he started grabbing more bags from Conner and placed them over Dick’s chest, stomach and legs.

“Isn’t this dangerous?” Rachel asked as Dr. Mid-Nite then started putting more bags under Dick’s arms.

“No, not when his temp is this high.” Gar chimed in from his spot at the foot of the bed while the doctor started putting the smaller bags around Dick’s head and neck. He even took off the cloth Kory had put on to place one of the ice bags there.

“Won’t that hurt his head?” Rachel questioned. A brain surrounded by ice did not sound good at all. At that, Dr. Mid-Nite looked over at her and his words chilled her and everyone else to the bone.

“With his temperature this high, his brain is going to start swelling, which can and will cause permanent brain damage if we let it go too long. We need to cool him down as fast as possible.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Roughly 20 minutes later, everything in the room seemed to have calm down slightly. The monitors showed that Dick’s fever was starting to go down a little. And the cold of the ice was helping bring Dick back around. He had started shifting a little, clearly uncomfortable with all the ice surrounding him and started making noises which was good. He still wasn’t fully waking up whenever someone tried to wake him, but he was able to instinctively swallow more Tylenol. The doctor considered that a plus.

“Well?” Gar asked when Dr. Mid-Nite stared at the screen silently.

“Still not where I’d like it, but it’s lower than before.” He answered, glancing back at Dick.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Conner spoke up, hating that all they were doing was sitting around and watching. He wanted to do something to help.

Shaking his head, the superhero/doctor said, “Not without an antidote.”

“And Bruce still isn’t any closer to finding one?” Roy then questioned, clenching and unclenching his fists.

“He’s trying, but whatever it is, it’s not on any database.” Dr. Mid-Nite replied without glancing at the archer. “It might even be a man-made concoction or something.”

“Can’t he just make a cure? Hasn’t he done that before?” Donna wondered, remembering Dick mentioning that Bruce had made antidotes for the toxins the psycho villains in Gotham would use.

“Doing that isn’t as easy as it sounds.” Dr. Mid-Nite responded, looking at Wonder Woman’s former sidekick for a few seconds before turning his gaze back to his patient, shifting the ice bags a little.

“And Jericho doesn’t know?” Dawn chimed in. He had been in Slade’s head for the last five years. He should’ve seen Slade buy or make the poison he used.

“Slade apparently did a really good job of keeping that bit of information to himself.” Dr. Mid-Nite had gone to see Batman a couple of times just to check on his progress and offer any help he could but so far there was nothing.

“We should just go down to the Slade’s cell and make him tell us.” Hank growled, clenching his fists and crossing his arms.

“He won’t. He wants us all to pay, especially Dick.” Dawn told him, looking sadly at the man lying in the hospital bed.

“And we can’t just beat him up until talks because of his training and healing factor.” Roy joined in, recalling Dick telling him about why Slade was such a dangerous ally.

“It’s worth a try.” Hank stated. “Plus, I don’t know about you guys, but I’d love to punch Slade’s face in.”

“Coming from the guy who punched Dick in the face and blamed him for Jericho’s death when he was a fully-informed and willing participant in the plan.” Gar shot, turning to glare at the older, taller man.

Hank stared at him, clearly surprised at Gar’s words before his expression turned to fury. Instead of lashing out at the teenager though, he turned around and stormed out of the room. Dawn looked back at forth between the door and Gar before she followed after her boyfriend, calling out his name as she went.

**2018TITANS2018**

Dawn quickly caught up to the fellow blonde in the hallway and grabbed his arm, only for him to pull away from her angrily. Undeterred, she grabbed his arm again with enough strength to force him to turn to face her as she said, “Hey, calm down.”

“I just, need to punch something.” He told her, pulling away again. Unable to hold in his anger, he turned and punched the wall closest to him. Luckily, whatever material the walls were made of were strong that the punch didn’t leave a dent. However, that meant that it hurt a lot more than Hank had expected and actually made him hiss in pain.

“Hank.” Dawn admonished as Hank clutched his fist to his chest protectively. He glanced over at her, then leaned his back against the wall and slid to the floor, all anger now gone.

“I know I was a jacka**, and I am still a bit angry, but I don’t want him to die.” Hank said quietly, staring at the floor.

“I know. And I’m sure Gar knows too. He’s just, upset and we’re easy targets right now.” Dawn told him, sitting down beside him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Like Dick was for us.” Hank realized. Looking over at her, he explained, “We were upset about what happened to Jericho and Dick was an easy target. Especially since we thought Slade was dead.”

“Yeah.” Dawn whispered, averting her gaze to stare at the ground, an immense guilt weighing on her chest.

Dawn knew, had always known that Dick never wanted to use Jericho. That he had questioned if they should ever since he found out Jericho existed. Shade had seen firsthand how close those two got. They had all grown close to the boy, but Dick got the closest. And because of that, he felt the most guilt for using him. Dick always had a big heart for people. She knew how much Jericho’s supposed death would hurt him, how he’d blame himself and she let him. Not only that, she blamed him too. They all did. And they all walked out on him. Twice. And now he was dying.

Hank barely registered Dawn’s hand rubbing his shoulder. His thoughts were solely on the young man lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life. As angry as he was, he never wished death upon Dick. When he first met him, Hank thought he was a cocky punk. A lot like Jason actually. Then he realized it wasn’t cockiness, it was joy and excitement. He loved running across the roofs and swinging through the air. As he got to know the first Robin more, he saw the hope and heart that Robin had come to represent, and the thirst for justice. He reminded him so much of Don.

Then when sh*t the fan with the whole Jericho thing, all Hank felt was fury and disappointment. Jericho was innocent in all of this. He regretted ever agreeing to use him to get to his father and that, like almost every emotion he felt, came out in anger. And since Dick was the one who found Jericho in the first place, the anger locked on him. It didn’t help that he was still a bit upset that Dawn started dating him even though he tried to hide it and act like everything was fine and he was cool with it. Ever since Wally yelled at them last night though, his words kept replaying over and over. He was right. They were all to blame, none of them just wanted to believe. Suddenly, a distant but still loud alarm went off, pulling Hank out of his thoughts.

“What’s that?” Hank asked. Dawn however didn’t answer. Instead, a fearful expression came upon her face as she stood up and ran back down the hallway towards Dick’s room. Hank ran right after her, but he didn’t catch up until she was standing in front of the observation window, staring into Dick’s room.

“Oh my G*d.” Dawn mumbled as she took in the scene before her. Hank, having stopped when he reached her, also froze. It was a little hard to see because of all the people in the room, but they could see that something was wrong with Dick. It looked like his entire body was shaking.

Dawn pushed down the shock and rushed back into the room with Hank and shouted, “What’s happening?”

“He’s seizing.” Dr. Mid-Nite answered, doing something with the Dick’s IV.

The two stared in horror as they slowly moved over to the others. Roy, Conner and Gar were holding the ice bags that were laying on Dick moments earlier. They must’ve pulled them off as soon as Dick started shaking. Rachel was quietly sobbing into Kory’s arms while the alien tried to comfort her. And Donna was standing frozen near the door, her skin paled to a snow-like white.

It felt like hours, but was probably only a minute, before Dick stopped moving. Dr. Mid-Nite let out a relieved sigh, then gestured for Roy, Gar and Conner to bring back the ice bags. Together, the four of them put the ice back on their sick friend, but when Roy turned back to the others, he noticed someone missing.

“Where’d Donna go?” Roy suddenly asked. From the confused expressions on everyone else’s faces, they hadn’t noticed that she had left either and Roy felt a new, different kind of concern sneak into his stomach.

**2018TITANS2018**

Donna strode through the halls to her room, not paying any attention to anything around her. Not that there was anything around to distract. There was no one in the halls. There probably wasn’t anyone else in the Watchtower except for them. Even if there was though, she wouldn’t let anyone or anything get in her way. She was on a mission and nothing was going to stop her from completing it.

Once she was in her room, she went straight to where she put her suit and grabbed her lasso. She had been thinking about this ever since they learned that Slade had poisoned Dick, and the longer they waited for Jericho and Bruce to figure out an antidote, the more she thought about it. The only reason she hadn’t brought it up was because in order for it to work, her will had to be stronger than Slade and considering how much he wanted them, wanted Dick, to pay, she wasn’t sure if her lasso would work. Not to mention his enhancements might also work in his favour.

Now though, she was more than willing to try anything. Slade had already taken Garth from her. Had killed Jillian. Had made them think they were responsible for Jericho’s death. She wasn’t going to let Dick die. He didn’t deserve it, hadn’t deserved everything he had gone through the last five years. Didn’t deserve everything that they, that she, had put him through. She was going to fix it, no matter what it took.

With her lasso in hand, Donna made her way down to where Slade was being held. He was still in the interrogation room, feet and hands cuffed. Even though he had been sitting there for hours, he didn’t look uncomfortable at all. He looked like he was actually enjoying it. He even still had the smug look on his face, like everything was going how he wanted it. She hated it. Gripping the rope tightly she opened the door and walked into the room.

“I must say, I truly expected Batman to be the one to come here and demand answers.” Slade said with a smirk, leaning back casually in his chair.

“You’re going to wish it was Batman.” Donna responded.

“Oh really? And why’s that?” Slade wondered, the eyebrow over his good eye rising.

“Because he won’t kill.” Donna told him, holding up her lasso. “I won’t make any promises like that.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I don’t know if Wonder Woman or Wonder Girl are actually okay with killing or not, but at this point, let’s just agree that Donna is so angry and scared that she’s not thinking clearly at the moment. Also, from the research I’ve done on Donna’s lasso, it said that the user’s will has to be stronger than the person its being used on so that’s where I got that from. Hope you guys liked this chapter! See you all next time!


	14. Pieces on the Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Announcement!!!! Next week, not only will I be uploading the second last chapter on Friday, but I will also be uploading the very last chapter on Saturday!!! So at the end of next week, this story will officially be over! This chapter title is from the song Pieces by Rob Thomas. Hope you guys like it!

Enjoying the twinge of apprehension in Slade’s good eye for a second, Donna swung out her lasso so it wrapped around his neck and pulled, causing Slade’s head to bang against the table. A sick sense of satisfaction rose inside of the Amazonian at causing the assassin just a bit of pain, but she pushed that down. As much as she wanted the man to suffer, she needed him. If she was going to get the antidote for Dick, she needed Slade alive and able to speak. So she gave the rope a little slack and waited for Slade to sit back up.

Suddenly, the door behind her opened and she heard Roy’s voice saying, “Donna! What are you doing?”

Turning her head over her shoulder, Donna saw Roy, Hank, Dawn, Kory, Rachel and Gar flooding the doorway. They must’ve noticed she left and deduced where she had gone. She didn’t know why all of them except for Conner and Dr. Mid-Nite had followed her. Dick needed them far more than she did. And it seemed obvious to her what she was doing. Roy, and Hank and Dawn, had seen her use her lasso before.

“I’m getting the information we need to save Dick.” Donna told them, turning her attention back to Slade. He was now sitting upright, the rope still wrapped around his neck. His fingers had grasped part of the rope, but he wasn’t trying to pull it off. And his face was completely emotionless, apparently having taken the last few seconds to compose and prepare himself.

Stepping closer to the assassin, Donna stared into his soulless eyes and ordered, “What is the cure for the poison you used on Dick?”

“One that is difficult to make, which is why I chose it.” Slade deflected, then asked, “Why is it you blame me for all of this? You started this.”

“I started this?” Donna repeated with an incredulous tone. When Slade just stared at her, she punched him right in the nose, hard enough to hear and feel the bones crunch under fist.

Before he could recover from the blow, Donna grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up. Ignoring the blood gushing from his nose, Donna leaned closer and hissed, “You started all of this when you killed Garth.”

“And why was he there at the airport that night?” Slade wondered with a casual tone, as though his nose hadn’t just been broken and there wasn’t a rope around his neck.

“Excuse me?” Donna questioned.

“I follow my targets for a bit before I do my job. To find the best time and way to take them out. My target was Jillian, not Garth, as you undoubtedly know. I had a time picked out already, but then I saw you walk into that building to see her.” Slade started to explain.

Suddenly, Donna felt fear run through her blood and was about to pull on the rope harder to shut him up, but before she could, Hank said, “Wait, what?”

With a grin, Slade continued, “Later that day, her computers showed that her arranging for a plane, per your request, according to the emails she sent.”

“I thought it was Jillian who decided to take you back to Themyscria.” Dawn said, but Donna didn’t look at her. She just stared at Slade and growled, “Tell me how to heal Dick.”

“Put him out of his misery.” Slade responded, his grin turning sadistic. “After all, he has been miserable ever since that friend of yours, Garth, died. From what the mics Rose planted in your precious ‘Tower’, you never told him that you lied about Jillian ordering you back to your island. Or that Garth jumped in front of the bullet. You started all of this when you lied.”

“Shut up!” Donna yelled and throwing another punch at Slade’s face, then sweeping a leg under his chair, kicking it away.

Without the chair and with his hands still cuffed to the table, Slade awkwardly fell to the ground, his arms lifted up. The vulnerable position didn’t faze Donna at all. She punched him again. And again, and again. Then, she kicked him in his ribs. Once, twice. Before she could kick him a third time, hands grabbed her arms and pulled her back. It wasn’t until then that she noticed that Roy had been calling her name and telling her to stop.

Turning around to look at him and the others, Donna saw shock and a bit of horror on all of their faces. It was then that realized what she had done, what they had just found out. Feeling something wet and warm on right hand, she glanced down and saw blood all over it, most likely from when she broke Slade’s nose. Suddenly feeling overwhelmed and like she couldn’t breathe, she pulled the her lasso off of Slade and walked out of the room. Roy reached out to stop her, but she shrugged his hand off.

Donna didn’t really have a destination in mind. She just needed out of the room and away from the other heroes. She could hardly hear anything anymore over the blood pounding in her ears. Her heart felt like it was going to race right out of her chest. And her eyes were starting to burn. She needed to get somewhere private.

Going straight to the door closest to her, she opened it and went inside. Seeing it was a bathroom, she went over to the sink and turned it on to clean the blood off her hand. As she did that, she felt tears start running down her cheeks, completely beyond her control. Just like everything had been in the last few minutes.

Hearing the door open, she was about to tell whoever it was to leave her alone, but froze when she saw who it was. There, standing in her famous superhero outfit, was none other than Diana Prince, Wonder Woman herself, looking extremely worried.

“Mom.” Donna whispered as her sobs completely took over. Diana immediately came over and pulled her into her arms, hugging her tightly. Next thing the younger hero knew, they were on the floor but didn’t care that much. Everything was falling apart and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

**2018TITANS2018**

Diana whispered soft and kind words as Donna sobbed into her shoulder, one arm wrapped tightly around the younger Amazon’s shoulders while the other cupped the back of her head, running fingers through her hair. Donna barely heard what her mentor and mother-figure was saying, but the sound of her voice was as comforting as her tight embrace. She hadn’t cried in Diana’s arms like this in years. Though she was an adult now, and had been for a while, it was nice to be held so protectively like this.

Finally, her tears ran dry. She felt Diana shifting a little but didn’t pay any real attention to what she was doing until a bunched-up wad of toilet paper appeared right in her line of sight. Donna pulled away from Diana, grabbed the toilet paper and used it to wipe away any remaining tears away before blowing her nose. To her credit, Diana didn’t react at all. She even took it from her and threw it in the trash when she was done.

“Slade was right. This is all my fault.” Donna mumbled, still leaning against Diana though she was staring at the base of the toilet across from her.

“How?” Diana asked, rubbing her back. At first, Donna didn’t understand the question then remembered that she wasn’t there when Donna tried to interrogate Slade.

“I asked Jillian to take me back to Themyscria, but I told Dick that I was ordered to go.” Donna said.

“Why?” Diana gently questioned.

“Because of Garth. I had feelings for him, and it was obvious he wanted to be with me, but I didn’t want to act on them and I knew if I stayed, I would.” Donna told her. “Garth found out I was leaving and followed me. He asked me to stay, and I decided to. But then Slade tried to kill Jillian and Garth jumped in front of the bullet and was killed. If I wasn’t such a coward, Garth wouldn’t have been there and he’d still be alive. None of this would’ve happened.”

“Oh Donna.” Diana whispered, then after a minute, added, “You had no way of knowing that that would happen. You played a part in this, but so did everyone else. Garth made a choice to. He didn’t have to come after you and he didn’t have to jump in front of the bullet.”

“But it still all started with me.” Donna objected, feeling tears coming to her eyes once again. “And I didn’t tell anyone the truth after he died. And when Dick found out that Slade was the killer and that he had a son, Jericho, and suggested we use him to find out where Slade is, I pushed him and the others to do it. Even when we all started feeling guilty, I kept pushing. I wanted revenge.

“And then, when Jillian told me that she was the target and was taking over the investigation, I didn’t tell anyone that either. I wanted revenge and if I told them that Jillian was taking over, then we would stop and I wouldn’t get it. So I kept my mouth shut and kept pushing. And when Jericho died, I just left with Hank and Dawn. I didn’t tell them anything. I let them blame Dick for all of this. I put the blame on him too. Then, when Dick told us how Jericho really died, or we thought he died, I still didn’t say anything. I let the others blame him, and I blamed him too.”

Donna paused, taking a minute to try and collect herself. When she thought she had, she continued, “And now Dick’s dying and the one thing I could do to help him, I failed at.”

“Sh.” Diana cooed, hearing from the younger woman’s voice that she was about to start crying again.

“I don’t know what to do.” Donna whispered as a stray tear dripped from her eye.

Diana pulled away a bit so she could like at her daughter’s face and said, “First thing’s first, you are going to take a minute to clean yourself up. Then, you going to give me your lasso and go see Dick.”

“What?” Donna questioned, completely confused.

“Bruce called me a few hours ago, when he couldn’t figure out what the poison is. He wants me to use my lasso. But from what I’ve just learned, it might be better to use two lassos at once instead of one.” Wonder Woman explained.

“But, I can’t do it. He got under my skin and he’ll do it again.” The photographer told her.

“I know.” Diana replied, moving a hand to brush a strand of hair from Donna’s face. “That’s why it’s not going to be you using it. Bruce is. I’ll use mine, he’ll use yours.”

Donna almost felt bad for Slade, knowing that. His strength of will against hers was one thing. Against Diana Prince and Bruce Wayne? He didn’t have a chance. Whether he had metahuman powers or not. He was screwed. And if that didn’t work, the Dark Knight would make sure he paid for whatever happened to the original Robin.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Diana gripped her shoulder and said, “Now you clean yourself up, and go see Dick. He needs you right now.”

“Okay, okay.” Donna mumbled, wiping her face again. Diana then stood up, and held out a hand which Donna took. Once she was up on her feet, she held out her hand that was holding her lasso and said, “Please save him.”

“I’ll do everything in my power.” Diana promised. While she hadn’t approved of Bruce letting a child help him fight crime, she had grown attached to the boy almost as soon as she met him. When Donna met him, they quickly adopted each other as siblings, leading to Diana practically adopting him as her nephew. She didn’t want him to die either.

With that said, Diana took the lasso and walked out of the room, leaving Donna alone. Turning to the sink, Donna turned on the cold water and splashed some on face, cooling her burning cheeks. Once she felt composed, she grabbed the hand towel and dried her face. After that, she took a deep breath and headed towards her little brother.

**2018TITANS2018**

Conner watched with growing concern as Dick started to shift uncomfortably in the large tub filled with cold water and ice beside the clone. After they got Dick to stop seizing, Dr. Mid-Nite asked for his help in making a bunch more ice while he pulled out the metal tub from a different room. He then filled it half-way with cold water, instructing Conner to put in the ice he had made. After that, the two of them managed to lift Dick off the hospital bed and into the tub.

Dick struggled at first, but that didn’t last long. He was too weak to fight them, the fever taking its toll on him. However, an almost pained expression remained on his face. And every now and then, he’d moan and try to move. It was really beginning to worry Conner. While he hadn’t known Dick for very long, he didn’t like the idea of the older man in pain.

“I don’t like this.” Conner finally spoke up. Seeing Dr. Mid-Nite looking over at him, Conner added, “He looks like this is hurting him.”

Dr. Mid-Nite sighed before sitting down on the floor by Conner. Looking over at his patient, the doctor/hero said, “It most likely is. Extremely cold temperatures are very painful to normal human when they first feel it. Until they go numb that is. Then they don’t feel anything.”

“Isn’t there any other way to lower his fever? To make him feel better?” Conner asked, his eyes darting back and forth from Dick to the doctor.

“If there was, I’d be doing it right now.” Dr. Mid-Nite answered sadly. “As it is, this isn’t going to help him for much longer. The only thing that can truly help him is the antidote to whatever he was poisoned with.”

Conner frowned, then looked back at Dick. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he should just use his freezing breath power right on Dick. That would definitely cool him down. Before he could ask about it though, he heard the door open again. Looking over, he saw it was the girl, Donna. Her hair was a little messy and her face was red. A distant memory that was not his told him that it seemed like she had been crying.

Without saying anything, Donna walked over to the tub where Dick was lying and sat down beside him, on the opposite of Conner and Dr. Mid-Nite. She barely looked at the clone or the doctor. Her eyes were locked on Dick. On his shivering body, his wheezy breathing audible through the oxygen mask that was now strapped to his face. He looked awful. At least he wasn’t seizing anymore.

Reaching her hand out, she started stroking his cheek, wincing when she felt how hot his skin still was despite the ice and freezing water. She hated how sick he was, hated that she couldn’t help him. She had her chance and she blew. Just like she blew everything. Slade was right. This was all her fault. Garth’s death, Jericho’s supposed death, Dick dying in front of her, was all on her.

Moving her hand, Donna gently pushed Dick’s head towards hers and leaned her forehead against his temple. With tears running down her cheeks again, she whispered, “I’m so sorry Dick. So sorry. Please, please don’t leave me too.”

Feeling a hand fall on her shoulder, Donna slowly turned her head to find Conner right behind her, giving her a small smile. She didn’t even notice that he had moved. While they didn’t know each other, it was really sweet that he was trying to comfort her. From the few interactions Donna had with Conner, he seemed like a really kind and sweet boy. A lot like how she pictured a younger Clark Kent, which, in a way, he was.

Giving him a small smile in return, the photographer turned her gaze back to Dick. Conner’s hand stayed on her shoulder for a few minutes before he dropped it. He stayed by her side though. She didn’t say anything and neither did he. She had no idea what was going on his head, but his presence was oddly comforting. It actually felt a bit like the times whenever she was struggling and Dick was there for her. And that brought even more tears to her eyes. Dick had always been there for her when she needed and where was she in the last five years? Running off and pretending like everything was his fault and he deserved it. It should be her dying, not him.

Donna sat beside the tub, her head leaning against Dick’s, her arm awkwardly wrapped around his shoulders, trying to give him her strength. She wasn’t sure if it was working though. She was so focused on Dick, hoping, praying that he’ll be okay that she didn’t notice Dr. Mid-Nite walking around the room or his quiet conversation with Conner. Didn’t notice the time passing either. It felt like minutes and hours all at once. It wasn’t until the door was thrown open that Donna lifted her head and refocused on her surroundings.

Batman, the person who had opened the door, strode right over to Dr. Mid-Nite with a small, glass vial in his hand. Behind him, the rest of the Titans, Rose, Roy, Wally and Diana came in, all looking anxious and hopeful. As Diana came over to Donna’s side, Batman handed the doctor the vial and said, “We got it.”


	15. When The Dust Settles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So apparently not only have they finally casted Barbara Gordon, but announced that Tim Drake will be entering the show and has been casted! Found this out a couple of weeks ago when I do my random checks for Titans’ updates. I’m happy and excited, but a little nervous because the one article I read made it sound that Tim is going to be a street kid like Jason and I’m not sure how I feel about that. But as I usually do, I try not to judge a show until I watch it or a character until I see them. Can’t wait for season 3! Hope it comes soon! Also, quick reminder, I will be posting the next/last chapter tomorrow! Hope you guys like this chapter!

Slowly, Dick opened his eyes. He felt extremely weak, like his muscles were made of jello. It actually took him a minute to remember how to open his eyes. When he did, he was a bit confused.

He was in one of the Watchtower’s infirmary rooms, lying on the bed. He could hear the beeping noise of a heart monitor and could see an IV bag hanging over him. Followed the tube line, he saw that it went straight into the back of his right hand. And beside his right hand, was Rachel’s head. She was sitting in a chair beside him and had apparently slumped over in exhaustion. Though she was sleeping, she still looked tired. Raising his eyes more to examine the room, he saw Roy, Wally, Gar, Conner, Jason, Rose, Donna, Dawn and Hank. They were sitting in chairs, also fast asleep. It made him wonder how long he had been here.

“Dick?” Turning his head to the side, Dick saw Bruce sitting by his side. Seeing that he was awake, Bruce gave him a small, rare, smile and placed the back of his against Dick’s forehead as he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. Kind of gross.” Dick answered, instinctively leaning his head against his adoptive father’s hand. Looking up at him, he then wondered, “What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Bruce inquired, moving his hand to brush Dick’s hair away from his face.

“I remember Rose going to see Slade, to get Jericho. She got him, right?” Dick questioned. When Bruce nodded, he continued, “And I went to go get changed, but then, nothing. Except, I kind of remember Roy, and drinking water, I think.”

“Slade had apparently poisoned his sword. So when he cut you, the poison got in your bloodstream. You’ve been really sick, but we got the antidote and you’re going to be just fine. You just need some rest and need to take it easy for a week or so.” Bruce filled him.

Dick frowned as his still-slow brain tried to process the older man’s words. Though he didn’t remember much, he did remember thinking it was strange that Slade had appeared so confident despite being caught. Having apparently poisoned him, that made sense. Still, it was a bit jarring to hear that you had been poisoned. And considering the way Bruce was looking at him, and was actually physically comforting him, it must’ve been bad. Showing any emotion besides anger, especially caring and loving, was difficult for the man, so if he was showing that, it meant that he had definitely been spooked.

“The others okay?” Dick wondered, not sure if anyone else was injured. He hoped not.

“They’re fine. They were just worried about you.” Bruce answered, moving his hand to stroke Dick’s cheek.

“I’m okay Bruce. Promise.” Dick said with a tired grin. Hearing that, Bruce finally seemed to relax bit, enough that he actually sighed.

A quiet moan suddenly drew the attention of the two men towards Rachel, who was starting to shift her head. Blinking her eyes opening, she slowly looked over at Dick. With a smile, Dick said, “Hi Rach.”

“Dick!” Rachel shouted as she realized that Dick was awake and threw herself onto him, wrapping her arms as best as she could around him. Dick winced, as his entire body was sore, but returned the embrace as best he could.

Suddenly, Dick heard the voices of the others, calling out his name. Looking up, he saw that they were all awake now and were coming over to them, relieved expressions on their faces. Smiling back at them, he said, “Hey guys. How’s it going?”

“Better now that you’re awake. Though I have a feeling I’m going to regret that soon.” Roy answered with a grin, coming to stand by Dick’s side as Bruce backed away to give them room.

“Excuse me?” Dick questioned, still grinning.

“I know you Dick, and you are horrible at doing what the doctor says.” Roy explained.

“I am nothing but a perfect patient.” Dick objected with a mock-insulted tone.

“No, you’re not.” Bruce immediately told him as Roy and Wally both scoffed.

Dick opened his mouth to insist that he always followed the doctor’s orders, even though he was fully aware he didn’t, but then he noticed that Rachel was still holding on to him and the hospital gown he was wearing was starting to feel wet right where her head was. Rubbing her back, he said, “Rachel? Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry, so sorry.” Rachel blubbered, her crying now becoming audible.

“For what?” Dick asked, trying to move his head so he could see her face. He didn’t really need to because Rachel lifted her head on her own so she could also look at him.

“I’m sorry for leaving you, and Gar. For getting so mad. For showing up out of nowhere and disrupting your life and making you take care of me.” Rachel said, tears still streaming down her face.

Dick was completely stunned by what her words. Where had all that come from? Deciding that was a question for another day, he brought his hands up to her face to brush her tears away as he replied, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I understand why you left. And as for taking care of you, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Though she started crying harder, the teenager smiled and fell back down on top of him, hugging him again. Dick leaned his cheek down on the top of her head and continued to comfortingly rub her back, whispering, “It’s okay.”

“We’re sorry too Dick.” Dawn voice’s had Dick looking back up at the group, focusing on Dawn and Hank standing by the foot of his bed. Both of the blondes looked apologetic and a little ashamed. Though Hank stayed silent, Dawn spoke up again. “We shouldn’t have left, or blamed you for what all happened. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m sorry too.” Jason chimed in from his spot between Rose and Hank, not meeting Dick’s eyes.

“It’s okay. I understand.” Dick told them with a reassuring smile.

Kory, who was standing behind Rachel, put a hand on Dick’s shoulder and asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling alright.” Dick answered, leaning his head back on the pillow. “Kind of tired, sore, and really gross. I definitely need a shower.”

“Yeah you do. That fever you had did not do you any favours when it comes to your looks.” Wally somewhat joked.

“Thanks man.” Dick said. “As soon as I can stand, I’ll get right on it.”

After a minute of chuckling, Rose suddenly came forward and said, “I’m glad you’re okay. There’s someone who really wants to talk to you.”

Instantly, Dick tensed up while Rachel pulled away, wiping her face and nose with the sleeve of her sweater. Rose came closer, and closed her eyes. Opening them, an expression of joy that was so similar despite being on a different face. Smiling at him, Rose brought up her hands and started signing as she said, “Hi Dick. It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too Jericho.” Dick told him, unable to keep the tears from welling up in his eyes. “I’m so sorry it took so long. And I’m so sorry about that night.”

“It’s okay Dick. I never blamed you. It was all Slade’s fault. I know that, and I know what the Titans stand for.” Rose/Jericho said and signed. Before he could respond, Rose/Jericho fell on top of him and hugged him tightly, just like Rachel had done.

Immediately returning hug, Dick said, “I missed you kid.”

“Missed you too. Thank you for finding and coming for me.” Rose/Jericho told him.

“Of course. Any time.” Dick responded.

“I see the patient is awake.” A new voice suddenly joined the conversation. Rose/Jericho let go and backed away, allowing Dick to see Dr. Mid-Nite coming over to him. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore, a little tired.” Dick answered.

“I imagine you would be. That poison definitely put your body through the ringer.” Dr. Mid-Nite responded, looking over at the monitors.

“But no serious side effects, right?” The police detective asked.

“I don’t think so, but I want to run some tests just to be on the safe side.” The doctor/superhero replied.

“Sounds good.” Bruce chimed in with a serious tone before Dick could say anything. Looking over at his first son, he added, “And Dick’s going to do exactly what he’s told.”

“Why are you all ganging up on me?” Dick asked while everyone else just grinned.

“You do remember the time you had a broken collarbone and three broken ribs and still decided to go to the gym to train right?” Wally asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It was a fractured collarbone and only one broken rib.” Dick corrected, then pointed his thumb at Bruce as he continued, “And unlike him, I never tried to go crimefighting with a broken leg.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Bruce cut in, knowing all the stories that Dick had in his arsenal about him. Turning to the others, who were all looking too entertained for their own good, and said, “Let’s all back up a little and let the doctor look over his patient.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Donna watched silently from her spot in the doorway as Dr. Mid-Nite examined Dick while the others stood around, as close as they could be while still staying out of the way. She wanted to be by his side too, but there wasn’t enough room. Plus, everything she wanted to say, should probably be said in private. And honestly, Donna was a bit scared of having that conversation. Of having to admit her lies that started this whole mess. Would he hate her? Her lies put him through h*ll, emotionally and physically. Her lies caused everyone to turn against him. She would completely understand if he told her to get out and that he never wanted to see her again. Suddenly, she realized that that’s exactly what Dick must’ve been afraid of, and yet, he still came clean to her and the others. Now, it was her turn.

Suddenly, Kory turned her head and looked right at her. Donna tensed up a little and looked over to the side, trying to avoid her gaze. However, that apparently only made the alien curious. Enough that she actually came over to her. Not wanting to get the attention of everyone in the room, Donna slowly backed out of the room. Kory followed.

“Are you okay?” Kory asked quietly, closing the door a bit so that no one would hear them.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just, so glad that he’s okay.” Donna answered, doing her best to give the redhead a reassuring smile.

“But?” Kory prodded, knowing that there was something else going on.

Sighing, Donna leaned her head against the glass observation window and said, “I need to tell him. I need to tell him the truth. I should’ve told him so long ago, but I don’t know how.”

Kory stayed quiet, thinking over her response. Though it had felt like weeks, it had was actually only last night when Donna confronted Slade. When she tried to get the information that they needed to save Dick. When Slade revealed the secret that no one knew that Donna had been keeping. However, during those 12 hours of waiting for Dick to respond to the antidote Wonder Woman and Batman got, waiting for him to wake up, no one had talked about it or even tried to bring it up.

“Donna, why did you lie in the first place?” Kory broke the silence.

“You mean, about going to Themyscria?” When Kory nodded, Donna answered, “Because I was in love with Garth and didn’t want to admit it. Didn’t want to start something that I thought could get in the way of what I thought was the direction I wanted my life to go in. And I knew that if I stayed, that that’s exactly what would’ve happened.”

“Would that have been so bad?” Kory wondered, leaning against the wall.

“At the time, I thought it was.” Donna responded.

“Okay, but why not tell Dick? Why not explain all of that? I’m sure he would’ve understood.”

“Yeah, he probably would’ve, but it felt, cowardly doing that and Dick,” Donna paused, biting her lower lip before continuing, “Because of my being raised by Wonder Woman, there were a lot of times I was on Themyscira so Dick and I didn’t get to spend as much time together as we would’ve liked. It got worse as we got older. If I told him that I wanted to leave just because of Garth, it would’ve hurt him. But not only did I still end up hurting him, I did far worse than if I had been honest in the first place.”

“And afterwards?” Kory pushed.

“It didn’t seem, important, after Garth died. And I, I was so angry, so lost in grief that I didn’t really think about it. And it got worse when Jillian told me how she was actually the target and wanted to take over the search for Slade. I wanted revenge, and I didn’t care what I had to do to get it. And then, everything fell apart. I got Jericho killed and hurt my little brother.” Donna said before finally turning her head to look at Kory, exposing tears forming in her eyes. “How do I tell him that I did that, and I kept my mouth shut and let him take the blame for it?”

Kory stood up straight and walked over to her side. Placing a hand on her shoulder, she said, “I don’t know. But I think, the important thing is, that he knows how sorry you are. I know that I’ve only known Dick for a few months but, I know him enough that he won’t blame you.”

Donna knew that already. While his attitude may have been a little colder than it was back when he was a kid, she knew he still had the same heart as he did back then. The overly-forgiving and loving heart that had been broken so many times yet still kept beating. She knew he would forgive her, but she also knew that it would still hurt him so badly. He had been hurt so badly already and she was going to have to had more to it. A part of her wanted to continue to keep her lies a secret, just to spare him, but she knew she had to. He had a right to know.

Sensing that Donna needed some time alone, Kory gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and snuck back into the room to join the others. Donna didn’t really pay any attention to that. Her focus was on Dick, who she could barely see with everyone that was in the room. Soon though, Dick’s eyes, looking over the group with him, landed on hers. Donna’s breath hitched a little in surprise, but then he gave her a small smile. Smiling back, she lifted her hand and gave him a short wave which caused his smile to widen. Then, his attention was pulled back to Dr. Mid-Nite who was standing right beside him.

“He’s awake?” Donna heard Diana’s voice off to her right.

Still keeping her eyes on Dick, she said, “Yeah, he is. It looks like he’s going to be okay.”

An arm wrapped around her shoulders before the motherly voice spoke again. “That’s good.”

“Yeah.” Donna mumbled, leaning into the woman’s embrace.

“Are you doing okay?” Diana then asked.

“No. I’m scared.” Donna admitted with a shameful tone.

“Of what?”

“Of telling the truth. Of telling him that I lied and stayed quiet while he took the blame. Of getting mad at him when it wasn’t his fault. Of letting everyone yell at him and hurt him when they should’ve yelled and gotten mad at me.”

“Oh Donna.” Diana whispered, pulling her in a little closer. “You know you aren’t the sole person to blame for all this, right? You played a part in it, but so did Hank and Dawn and Dick, and most of all, Slade. And Dick loves you. He will forgive you.”

“That’s what makes it worse.” Donna responded, looking over her mentor. “I know he’s going to forgive but I wish he wouldn’t. He should yell at me. Treat me exactly as Dawn, Hank and I treated him. I deserve it. I don’t deserve his forgiveness.”

“Isn’t that for Dick to decide?” Diana asked. When Donna remained quiet, Diana added, “I know it can be hard to accept forgiveness when you don’t deserve it. But a big part of it, is learning how to forgive yourself too. You’ve seen what can happen to people who don’t.”

“You mean Bruce, and Dick.” Donna said.

“While Bruce can be extremely stubborn and has the emotional range of a teaspoon, yes. Though Bruce can hide it better than Dick can, they both blame themselves a lot for anything that goes wrong. It does speak volumes to how much they care, but it does cause them a lot of pain and makes it extremely difficult to move on.” Diana explained. Looking over at the young woman, loosely running her fingers her hair, and said, “I hate seeing them go through that, especially since they don’t deserve it. Don’t go through it too.”

“But I do deserve it.” Donna protested.

“Maybe for a little bit, but not forever. Especially since you can’t change what happened. All you can do is learn from it. And it seems pretty clear that you already have.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Bruce in that one scene might seem a bit OOC, but I can’t help but feel that that kind of banter would actually happen in that situation. His guard would be down a bit since he had been so worried about Dick and now relieved that he was going to be okay. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! See you all tomorrow for the finale!


	16. Truth and Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here’s the last chapter! I hope you all like it!

Dick woke feeling more rested and relaxed than he had in weeks, which was a little weird considering he was still in the med-bay of the Watchtower. No one would describe the beds there as ‘comfortable’. Then again, when you’re exhausted, a rock-solid ground would feel comfortable. That’s something Dick knew from experience. Hopefully though, he won’t have to stay another night. He didn’t want to stay last night, but both Bruce and Dr. Mid-Nite decided that he should stay just to be on the safe side. They wanted to make sure that the poison was truly out of his system and the antidote wouldn’t have any side effects. Since those were some valid points, and Dick was too tired to even try to argue, he agreed.

Shifting so he could lie on his side, Dick found he wasn’t alone in the room. While that didn’t surprise him, he was a little surprised that the person was Donna. He knew that near-death experiences had a way of bringing people together, but he had kind of figured that she was still mad at him. They hadn’t really talked at all since she showed up at the Watchtower with the others. It was nice to see that she was there beside him though.

Noticing that he was awake, Donna gave him a small smile as she whispered, “Hey bird boy.”

“Hey.” Dick said back, also in a quiet voice.

“How are you feeling?” She then asked, leaning a little closer to him.

“Better.” Dick answered.

“That’s good.” Donna stated in a somewhat absent tone. Dick nodded, then looked her over in more detail.

The photographer’s hair was messy, like she hadn’t brushed it in a while. Her eyes were bloodshot, complete with dark circles under them. Her skin was also a bit paler than normal. All in all, she looked like she was more exhausted than he was. It was then that his gaze fell on her extremely bruised and scraped knuckles.

“What did you do to your hands?”

Donna glanced down and realizing what he meant, she looked back at him and said, “They had a run with Slade’s face.”

“What?” Dick asked. He didn’t at all remember Donna landing punches hard enough to cause that kind of damage when they fought the assassin.

“Yeah. I was kind of angry and his face was begging to be punched.” Donna explained, looking a little sheepish.

“Does it hurt? It looks like you should get that checked out.” Dick told her. He instinctively reached out, then pulled his hand back. He was intending to look them over more closely and make sure nothing was broken, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. Before Slade, he would’ve gone ahead as he wanted to make sure one of his best friends was okay, and Donna would’ve let him, though she would throw in an insistence that she was fine. Now, he was fairly sure that that action would’ve been unwelcome.

“It’s fine. Nothing serious.” Donna responded. “But are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. Dr. Mid-Nite said I can actually leave soon. The only reason he’s keeping me here is because he wants to be on the safe side. Especially since Bruce is here and being his overprotective self.” Dick said with a slightly annoyed grin.

“I think you’re going to have to get used to a lot of people being overprotective of you for a little while. You scared us, all of us, really badly.” Donna informed him, her tone becoming serious.

“Sorry.” The apology is out of Dick’s mouth before he even realizes it.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Donna said, then lowered her head. Dick’s concern for her, one of his best friends, started to grow and he made to sit up, but stopped when he heard Donna whisper, “None of this was your fault.”

“You lost me.” Dick responded, confused as to what she was talking about.

Donna stayed silent for a minute and didn’t look back up at him. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Dick slowly placed a hand on her shoulder. To his surprise, she didn’t flinch or shrug it off. She didn’t look up at him though either. Leaning a little closer to her, he asked, “What’s going on Donna?”

“I um,” Donna stuttered, then fell silent for a few more seconds before she said, “You weren’t the only one who lied five years ago. I lied too.”

“About what?” Dick questioned with a gentle tone.

“I, Jillian didn’t pull me. I went to her and asked her to take me back to Themyscria.” She revealed, lowering her head even more.

“What? Why?” To say Dick was surprised would be an understatement. He didn’t know what to expect when Donna said she lied but that most definitely wasn’t it. Why would she lie about that? Why did she want to leave? While they were growing up, they hated being separate and would often talk and joke about actually moving in together when they were older and when they first put the Titans together, they had that. Along with Hank, Dawn and Garth.

“Because, because of Garth.” Donna replied, still not meeting Dick’s gaze. “I tried not to, but I had feelings for him. I loved him but I didn’t want to start a relationship with him. I didn’t want to get distracted from what I thought I needed to do with my life. If I didn’t do that, Garth wouldn’t have been at the airport that night and would still be alive.”

Dick moved his hand from Donna’s shoulder to rub her back. He knew of what was going on between Donna and Garth. A blind person could see it, and he knew that she was trying to keep things professional. He did think Garth and Donna would make a good couple but he did his best to stay out of it. It was their lives and their relationship. Thinking that was it, he opened his mouth, but closed it when Donna said, “And that’s not all.”

He wasn’t sure what all else there could be, but he continued to stay silent and let Donna continue. After taking a deep breath to brace herself, she did.

“While we were trying to get information from Jericho about Slade, Jillian called me and had me meet her. She had found out from surveillance footage that Garth died because he jumped in front of the bullet. Slade was trying to kill Jillian, and because of that, she pulled rank. She told me she was taking over the investigation but I didn’t tell any of you. I wanted revenge, so I didn’t tell you. Because of that, I almost got myself killed, almost got you killed, thought I got Jericho killed. Yet, I still blamed you. And because I kept it a secret, Hank and Dawn blamed you too. I put you through h*ll all because I refused to accept that I did anything wrong. It was never your fault. It was mine. I’m so sorry Dick.”

The former Robin paused in shock. He wasn’t sure what to think right now as it took a minute or two to really process what she had just said. But as he did, he couldn’t deny that it felt like he got punched in the stomach. For the last five years, he had felt a heavy weight of guilt on his chest for what happened to Jericho. Even when Roy and Wally told him that it wasn’t his fault, even when it was discovered the Jericho was still alive inside of Slade, that guilt stayed. Now he was actually being told by his best friend that not only was he not at fault, but it was hers and she let him take the blame.

As the shock started to wear off and the hurt settled in, a part of Dick wanted pull his hand away and tell her to get out. But then he saw the tears running silently down her cheeks. He knew that if he was able to, he’d see the pain in her eyes. Though her confession hurt and she was probably expecting him to yell at her and kick her out of the room, he didn’t want to do that. In his opinion, there had been enough pain to last them both for a lifetime. He didn’t want to add to that.

So, he shifted a bit to get closer to Donna and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He felt her tense for a minute, clearly not expecting him to do that, but then almost went limp in his arms and started sobbing. As his shirt started to get wet with her tears, he could hear her mumbling, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Sh.” Dick whispered, rubbing her back. “It’s okay. I forgive you. It wasn’t your fault. We all played a part. It’s okay.”

“I’m so sorry.” Donna continued to mumble despite his words. So he stayed quiet and waited for her to calm down a bit before he said anything else.

It didn’t take that long until her sobs died down and she started breathing normally again. She still leaned against him, completely boneless in his embrace. Not that he minded. Despite what his friends and the kids might think, he actually loved human touch but he didn’t want to cross any boundaries that people might have, and honestly, he really missed Donna. No matter what she just admitted to doing, she was still like a sister to him.

“Donna, the only person to blame for this whole thing, is Slade. Not you, not me, just Slade. Yes, we made choices that in hindsight, were questionable and probably not smart and definitely hurtful, but Slade started all of this. So let’s just blame him.” Dick told her, still rubbing her back.

“How can you say that? How can you not blame me, hate me for what I did? I hurt you.” Donna asked, burying her head further into his chest.

“You did, but I forgive you. I think there’s been enough pain to go around without adding to it. Let’s just, both forgive each other and, promise to do better.” Dick suggested, to which Donna nodded in agreement.

“Love you little brother.” She murmured.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he said, “I love you too my older, smarter, prettier sister.”

**2018TITANS2018**

“So? Am I good to go?” Dick asked Dr. Mid-Nite about an hour after his talk with Donna.

Donna had actually fallen asleep on him after they talked. Seeing that she was exhausted, Dick let her sleep but she woke up when Bruce came into the room with the doctor. The photographer, hearing that the others were in the dining room eating dinner, went over to join them. As soon as she was gone, Dr. Mid-Nite did another check over Dick, which, Dick was hoping, would end with him being cleared.

“Yes, you are.” Dr. Mid-Nite said, then rushed to add, “But the minute you start feeling off in any way, you let me know immediately.”

“You got it!” Dick replied excitedly, jumping from the bed.

Not fully trusting of his son as Bruce knew that Dick would have to be on his deathbed before he said anything, he told the doctor, “I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him, and I’ll let the others know to do the same.”

“Really Bruce?” Dick questioned with an annoyed, pointed look.

“You have a bad track record Dick.” Bruce responded.

“It’s better than yours.” The younger vigilante shot back, causing Bruce to glare at him. Dick met it for a minute, then looked back at the doctor and said, “Everyone’s in the dining room still, right?”

“Most likely.” Dr. Mid-Nite answered as he started cleaning up his supplies.

“I’ll come with you.” Bruce told Dick, coming over to him as Dick stood up off the bed. He reached over to help his adoptive son, and while Dick let him help, he did give him an annoyed look for his trouble.

Turning back to Mid-Nite, he said, “Thanks doc.”

“Yes, thank you Dr. Mid-Nite.” Bruce added, giving the man a rare smile.

“Of course.” The doctor responded, also with a smile before turning back to his task of cleaning everything up as Bruce and Dick made their way out of the room.

As they made their way down the hallway towards the dining room, Bruce kept looking over at Dick. He was definitely looking a lot better than before. He still looked slightly pale but nothing like he was before. The redness in his cheeks and neck was gone as well. He had taken a quick shower earlier and was now wearing a fresh pair of grey sweats and a black T-shirt. He looked like he hadn’t been sick at all. However, Bruce couldn’t help but worry. He always worried about Dick.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Bruce inquired, placing hand on Dick’s shoulder.

“Yes, I’m fine. I promise.” Dick replied, giving Bruce a reassuring smile as he tried his hardest not to sound annoyed. He understood why he was constantly being asked that, he knew he had scared his adoptive father, but he hated being asked that all the time. Bruce nodded and let the matter drop, especially as they entered the dining room.

“Dick!” Rachel shouted in excitement the second her eyes fell on him. She practically leapt from her chair and ran over to him. Dick barely had time to open his arms before she crashed right into him with enough force that he almost fell over.

Looking up, he spotted Roy, Wally, Donna, Dawn, Kory, Hank, Gar, Jason, Rose and Conner all getting up from their seats at the table to come over as well. Kory, being one of the first to reach him, asked, “What did the doctor say?”

“He gave me a clean bill of health. I’m a free man.” Dick said, somewhat proudly. Everyone smiled in relief at hearing that.

“Good.” Hank stated from his position at the back of the group.

Dick gave the man a small grin before asking, “So what’s for supper? Assuming Wally hasn’t eaten it all yet.”

“Hey! I resent that.” Wally complained, though his eyes made it clear that he wasn’t actually upset.

“Dude, come on. We all know you could easily do that.” Roy told him with a chuckle. Clapping Dick on the back, the archer said, “Food’s over here.”

Roy led him towards the kitchen counter where all the food was laid out while everyone else headed back to the table. Bruce followed closely behind them, but not too closely. After the two of them filled their plates, they headed to the table and took the last two seats available.

Sitting down, Kory placed a hand on Dick’s shoulder and asked with a concerned voice, “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine.” Dick answered, giving her a small smile, then asked, “How are you guys?”

“We’re okay, especially now that you’re on the mend.” Donna spoke for the whole group. Seeing the happy way everyone was looking at him made Dick duck his head a little, feeling a bit embarrassed with all the attention.

“So, what’s the plan now fearless leader?” Jason wondered, pouring some more water into his cup.

Dick’s head shot up at the new Robin’s words. “What?”

“Well, Slade’s arrested, so what’s our next move? Back to the Tower?” Gar questioned, looking over at Dick.

It took a minute for Dick to fully realize what Jason and Gar were getting at. When he did, he said with a hesitant voice, “You guys, want to…”

“We talked it over earlier and, if you’re still willing, we want to start up the Titans again, officially.” Rachel explained, glancing over at her teammates before turning her gaze back to Dick.

“And, we owe you an apology. We shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened all those years ago.” Dawn chimed in with a regretful and apologetic tone. Before Dick could think of how to respond to that, Hank added, “And, sorry about the punch.”

“It’s okay. I deserved it.” Dick tried to shrug it off.

“No, you didn’t.” Hank told him, his tone making it clear that there would be no arguing which surprised Dick. He didn’t really think Hank would actually apologize for punching him. He had seemed to angry and Hank didn’t really do apologizes.

For a minute, Dick stared his friends, then asked, “You guys all really want to do this?”

“Yes, we do.” Rose told him while everyone else nodded.

Dick’s heart suddenly felt ten times lighter. He actually felt a bit like he was flying, and like he was about to start crying. Thankfully he didn’t though. That would’ve been embarrassing. Even since he started up the Titans again months ago, he was worrying and doubting himself. Terrified that he would make the same mistakes he did before. But now, not only were his old teammates apologizing to him for what happened, but they along with the others were still willing to stick with him.

“Well, we probably should get a new home base. The Tower is compromised.” Dick thought out loud. He hadn’t thought much of what they should do once they took down Slade but finding a new place was definitely one of the few things he did think of.

“Not necessarily.” Bruce told him, effectively getting everyone’s attention. “The only person who knows about the Tower besides us is Slade. We can make it look like you all moved somewhere else without actually moving.”

“Cool.” Gar responded with a grin.

“That means we have a lot of cleaning up to do though when we get back.” Dick reminded him. Slade had done a lot of damage when he attacked him, Gar and Conner. And he must’ve done more when he attacked the others.

“Already taken care of.” Bruce informed them.

“Seriously?” Dick questioned, staring at the billionaire in shock.

Bruce simply shrugged and, with a slight smug look on his face, said, “I had a feeling.”

Dick shook his head, then turned to face the others. “Okay. Guess we’re going home.”

**2018TITANS2018**

Slade sat quietly in his cell on the cot, staring at the one glass wall where the door was. After Batman and Wonder Woman had used those awful lassos on him and forced him to tell them how to cure Grayson, the heroine dragged him to this cell and left him here. He had no idea what was going on but since no one had come to beat him or kill or anything, he assumed that meant that Grayson was fine. And that infuriated him far more than it probably should.

Staring up at the security camera that was boxed in, in the far corner of his cell. Slade wondered if this was his new residence or if he would be moved to an actual, official prison. A normal prison would be fairly easy to escape from. A prison for metahumans or from here would be more difficult but not impossible. Nothing was impossible. He could find a way to escape and he would. He had a score to settle.

Deathstroke wouldn’t be behind bars for long. Slade promised himself that. And when he did escape, he’d get his kids back and deal with Richard Grayson. Once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, no, I am not writing a sequel to this particular story. I ended it on a slight cliffhanger because not only in this situation, would Slade try to attack them again, but I firmly believe that in the show, Slade will return. If Rose can heal from what Rachel did, Slade can heal from a stab wound. I hope you guys liked this story! I had fun writing it! Though now I don’t know which one of my AUs I like the most. Let know what you guys think. See you guys later!


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